A 35 year-old man, Michael Atanda, who has been threatening to expose nude pictures
of four ladies on the social media if they fail to pay money into his account has been arrested by
the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command.
Atanda, a computer science National Diploma holder of a
popular computer school based in Ikeja, was arrested on Thursday by the Decoy
Team of the Rapid Response Squad after about five days of baiting and
monitoring.
Atanda, an ex-convict and a father of three, had
collected N121,000:00 from his four victims with the threat, but wanted the
ladies to pay more or face the consequences of leaking their nude pictures on
social media.
Disguising as Segun Bayo on Facebook and a graduate of Obafemi
Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Atanda said he went about adding several ladies on Facebook.
And, that after two weeks, he would start chatting with them.
“The profile picture on my Facebook account is that of a
guy based in London, and so as part of my introductions to ladies, I tell them
that, I am a Construction Engineer as well as that my parents and I am living
Europe…. After sometime, I would lure them into sexual conversations during
which, I persuaded them to send their nude pictures to me. They would send and
I would send mine to them too," the suspect said.
"Before that I would pretended that I was seeking a
serious relationship with them, and that very soon, I would be coming to Abuja
on a business trip, during which I would see them…. I would again feign my
seriousness by calling them with the aid of computer software that transforms
my Nigerian line into an international line. Meanwhile, I would warn them that
I was calling through a public phone booth,” he stated.
He noted, "As soon as they have sent their nude
pictures, I would come up with all manners of stories. I would begin to extort
and blackmail them. Through this means, I have collected over N121, 000:00 from
my latest victims.”
He further confessed that “I was jailed last years in a
similarly circumstance after fraudulently collecting N700, 000:00 from a lady I
met through a dating site. I was eventually bailed but the case is still
pending in court…. I have collected only 10,000:00 from Funmilola, Motunrayo
N6,000:00, Janet, N5,000:00 and Lizzy N100,000:00.”
Out of the 210 friends on his Facebook, over 195 are young ladies. Apart from Lizzy, who reported the incident but declined
to press charges, three other suspects, who were discovered during
investigations, acknowledged on phone calls that they have been paying the
suspect so that he doesn’t leak their nude photographs online.
Even though investigators have
reached out to more victims after checking the suspect’s Facebook conversations
with a number of ladies. All of them have refused to come forward, after
confirming they were paying the suspect through his bank statement.
Atanda also opened a bank account with the same name, Segun Bayo, in one of the old generation banks.
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Superintendent Dolapo Badmos, said that the Police were carrying out a
thorough investigation on the case to aid prosecution. The suspect has been
transferred to SCID for further investigations.
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