Press Release

PRESS BRIEFING BY THE FPRO, ACP OLABISI KOLAWOLE ON A CASE OF CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION, BLACKMAIL, CYBERCRIME, IMPERSONATION AND DEMANDING BY MENANCE HELD ON 15TH JANUARY, 2016 AT FORCE HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA
Gentlemen of the Press.
I find it very expedient at this time to address the Press for the purpose of acquainting you and the Nation at large, as it concerns a case of intimidation, Blackmail, Cybercrime, Impersonation and Demanding by Menace, by one Elom Caleb Nzube a Cyber fraudster and impostor.
For the purpose of creating public awareness, the above mentioned petition dated 1st December, 2015 addressed to the office of the Inspector-general of Police by the petitioner Mrs Tinu Alade Abiola, the Managing Director/CEO HTM International Nigeria Limited.
The petition was endorsed to IGP Monitoring Unit for discreet investigation.
On the strength of the above mentioned petition, a team of Crack detectives assigned to carryout investigation on the case came with the following findings;
1. That the complainant is the owner of HTM International Nigeria Limited incorporated in 1987 for the purpose of publishing Fire, Safety and Rescue News across the globe;

2. That she set up tweeter accounts for this purpose called @tinualade741 and @tinuabiola;

3. That on 15th November, 2015, she met a Tanzanian, one Dr. Reginald Remengi online, through her tweeter account @tinualade and the elder statesman’s tweeter account called @regmengi1; the tweeter communication continued and later discovered a tweet massage from the cyber fraudster one Elom Caleb Nzube ‘m’ who impersonate Dr. Reginald Remengi;

4. That on discovery she closed down her tweeter accounts and reported the fraudster to tweeter which also closed down the tweeter account;

5. That the cyber fraudster noticing that his tweeter account @latdiscovery was closed, abandoned it and continued to use the tweeter account of Dr. Reginald Remengi which he fraudulently hacked into and embarked on intimidation, harassment and demanding by menace the sum of $5, 000 USD from the complainant, or to tarnish her reputation internationally;

6. That the suspect fraudulently fabricated a story using his professional knowledge in computer applications to prepare a human skull, attached same to the photograph of the complainant and created a web page with Vanguard News Media logo, which he used to blackmail the petitioner internationally;

7. That the suspect did not stop at this but continued to demand for the dollars and further threatened to make more publications if the money was not paid in time to him through money gram;

8. That the suspect confessed to have also blackmailed several unsuspecting persons locally and internationally, among who are: Prof. Toyin Ajao, a lecturer at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, Senator Raji Rauf, and Sam Kurk of England.

CONCLUSION

The Nigeria Police Force wishes to use this opportunity to advice Nigerians to ensure diligence in keeping the password of the social network account of their facebook, twitter, instagram including automated teller machine card’s password, with a view to avoiding falling prey of cyber fraudsters and other unscrupulous elements. It is pertinent to state that the aforementioned suspect will be prosecuted in accordance to the laws of the Federation, this is to ensure ends of justice for victims of this crime in addition to giving the society a sigh of relief.