Man Poses As Lady On Instagram to Dupe 33 Men

A 22 year-old suspect arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command has said he duped over 33 men while pretending to be a lady on Instagram.

Israel Falope, a Year One part time student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos, was arrested when officials of the RRS decoy team, who had been monitoring him for some weeks, trailed him to a

popular club in Ikeja City Mall on Thursday evening before arresting him.

The officers monitored him and those that he was interacting with at the club before arresting him and a colleague late in the night, the police said in a statement on Sunday.

It was gathered that the suspect recently celebrated his birthday at Hard & Rock, Lekki, Lagos, before his arrest, where he lavished over N500,000 on foods and drinks.

The suspect, who confessed committing the crime, said he has been in the business for more than two years.

The Police revealed that Mr. Falope's activities on Instagram were placed under investigations when it received a complaint about an Instagram handle @blackberbiedoll, used for criminal activities, which was later traced to him.

Apart from @blackberbiedoll, which he prominently used for fraudulent activities, he maintained @froshwhite007 and @froshwhite separately for same purpose.

A victim, who identified himself as Bernard, told police investigators that he got a friend request from @blackberbiedoll.

"Apparently, the picture on the account was that of a lady," the victim said.

"The lady in question messaged me on BBM. Honestly, I thought I was chatting with a woman who claimed to be in Nigeria at the time.

"She lied to me that her father was a Nigerian and her mum, a Kenyan, and so we got talking. At a point, she lied that she was building a beauty outfit in Ikota Shopping Mall, VGC and that she was in need of some money to complete the mall.

Mr. Bernard said he only found out the account was a fake after he transferred N1 million to 'her.'

"Weeks later, I grew suspicious of the account name Olawole Israel Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google, and then discovered it was all scam," he said.

"Immediately, I reported the incident to Instagram and that account was blocked and later suspended to prevent others from falling victim."

Another victim, who did not want his identity disclosed, said he paid N100,000 into her account to support her bogus fashion outfit.

Admitting the allegation, the suspect noted that since he started the act about 2 years ago, he had duped more than 33 men pretending to be a lady on Instagram and that the least amount he received from any of them was N80,000.

"When I started, much as I pretended to be a lady on phone, some men on the other side didn't believe me," he said.