Turkey-based Nigerian ‘swindles’ bureau de change operator of N72m
A bureau de change operator, Abdullahi Rafa Mohammmed has petitioned the Nigeria Police and the Turkish government against a Turkey-based Nigeria who allegedly swindled him of N71,645,000 million.
Mohammed, in his petition to the deputy inspector-general of police and the AIG (Interpol) dated March 25, 2022, said one Abdulhammed Kargo introduced the suspect, identified as Danejo Bello Bashir, to him and vouched for his integrity too.
The victim said he was involved in a business transaction that required him to send $124.600 (One hundred, Twenty-Four thousand and Six hundred dollar) to someone in China. Mohammed said he decided to contact Danejo, asking if he had the required sum and whether it was possible he made the transfer.
Danejo reportedly indicated his willingness to do so and requested Mohammed to transfer the naira equivalent to him.
In fulfilling Danejo’s wish and to avoid disappointing his China-based customer, Mohammed transferred the sum of N71, 645,000 (Seventy-One Million, Six hundred and Forty-five Thousand) to the suspect. Unknown to the victim, Danejo nursed a sinister intention.
According to petition, written under the hand of the victim’s counsel, Nicholas Eku &Co., ‘the suspect, ordinarily, was required to send the dollars to China before the payment of naira equivalent to him, but the suspect (Danejo) insisted on collecting the naira equivalent first.”
The petition states further that Mohammed without suspecting the suspect’s “criminal intention innocently transferred” the naira’s worth of the foreign currency. The money was transferred to the suspect’s accounts with Keystone Bank (Account No. 1012392387/ Yassar Worldwide) and First City Monument Bank (Account No. 6435127018/CNM Marketing) respectively.
As stated in the petition, Mohammed explained that the money he transferred to the suspect was not entirely his as he had pooled them from various business associates in Wuse Zone 4, Abuja operational base.
Mohammed said the owners of the money he transferred to Danejo had begun to demand refund from him. He added that Danejo lied to him that he had made the dollar transfer and sent fake telex as proofs.
“It has now dawned on our client that the suspect had no genuine intention” of paying the money, said the victim’s counsel in his petition. He equally stated that the suspect’s action had “subjected Mohammed to serious untold hardship in his business and loss of his personal dignity in the eyes of his business associates.”
In a similar letter to the consular, Turkish Embassy, the victim forwarded photocopies of the suspect’s international passport in the belief that could aid his arrest.
Moreover, TheCornet independent investigation revealed that the said Bello Danejo resides in Mesir, Turkey. He is a 2021 Pharmacy graduate of the Eastern Mediterranean University and he works both as a pharmacist and Cryptocurrency trader.
On his LinkedIn profile, Bello who has over 13,000 followers described himself as a “pharmacist by day and trader by night”. He is the founder of CNM Marketing and TRNC-NG, dealing in blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
In a 2018 post to the forum-styled website -Nairaland – a user had accused Danejo of swindling him of N30,000 through the purchase of bitcoins. The user claimed to have transferred the said sum to Danejo’s Diamond Bank Account. However, Danejo under the Nairaland thread protested the accusation and avowed his innocence.
As at the time of filing this report, it is not certain he police and the Turkish authorities have recorded any significant progress in investigating Danejo’s alleged act.
