Ifeanyi Uche, the director of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC), has revealed that the police will investigate the alleged involvement of Nzube Henry Ikeji, a Nigerian socialite, in a $2.5 million investment and romance scam.
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Uche said the case is a serious one and that the police will not sweep it under the carpet.
Uche said the police will reach out to the platform that published the investigation to obtain more credible facts.
“This morning, I was able to summon my people for us to properly conduct an analysis of the facts that we have seen,” he said.
“We have not been contacted by the YouTuber so what we have on ground is just the information that is out there in the media.
“We are analysing it for us to do justice. We will try and see how we can link up with the YouTuber and see if we can get credible information.
“It is a very serious issue and as you all know that the Nigeria Police Force cannot sweep it under the carpet. We will treat that seriously.”
Recently, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published a documentary exposing how Ikeji allegedly posed as the Crown Prince of Dubai to defraud a Romanian businesswoman of $2.5 million through a romance and humanitarian investment fraud scheme.
The investigation revealed that the alleged fraud started about three years ago when the Romanian businesswoman, identified as Laura, was contacted on LinkedIn by a user claiming to be the Dubai Crown Prince.
The OCCRP investigation said the impersonator told the woman he wanted to invest in a humanitarian project in Romania through her.
The report said that the two started conversing on social media, which led to a sort of romantic relationship
After some time, the impostor asked Laura to meet his financial manager in London to facilitate the creation of an account with a British bank.
She was later given login details to a bank account, where she saw a deposit of more than £200,000, but subsequently discovered that the account was cloned and the funds were not real.
The Romanian businesswoman transferred more than $2.5 million to the account before she began panicking about how to recover her money.
Subsequently, one of the aggrieved partners in the scheme told Laura the real identity of the fake Dubai Crown Prince, giving his name as “Nzube Henry Ikeji”, and also sent her a video showing him at what he described as his newly acquired mansion.
The OCCRP team travelled to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, to meet Chikezie Omeje, a journalist, to track the fake Dubai Crown Prince.
Ikeji was tracked to his newly acquired mansion in Abuja by the OCCRP team.
Ikeji’s flamboyant lifestyle was seen through his Instagram videos and images.
One of his Instagram pictures showed him posing with Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police.
