The Corps member who was accused of fraud in Delta State, has been released by the police following the intervention of the NYSC.
The corps member, Ayodeji Olaniyi, who is serving in Akwa Ibom State, is said to be a bitcoin trader, and sold some cryptocurrencies to a client who allegedly hacked into another person’s account to pay him.
Olaniyi was arrested after he reported to the police, following his suspicion of an alleged fraud after his client paid the naira value for the bitcoins into his account using another person’s bank account.
A friend who confirmed the arrest of Olowoleye Olayinka, disclosed that his account was frozen after reporting the suspicious transaction to his bank.
“Olaniyi, who sold bitcoins to a client in Delta State, was arrested on January 14, 2019. The client hacked into a woman’s United Bank for Africa account in Delta State to pay into his Guaranty Trust Bank account through mobile transfer.
“When he discovered that the name of the client, who bought the bitcoins, was different from the account name through which he was paid, he went to the ‘A’ Division, Uyo on January 12 to report the matter to the DPO.
“The DPO was not around; he met with the IPO and wrote a statement. On January 14, he went back to the police station to ascertain that the DPO was aware of the statement he wrote but he was arrested and detained at the ‘C’ Division, Uyo” he said.
Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Aniamaka Andrew, confirmed that the corps member accused of fraud has been released after the NYSC intervened.
“He has already been released following the intervention of the NYSC since he is a corps member. As it is, his bail is an administrative bail, which means whenever his attention is needed; the authority will still take him.
“I think this one also serves as an avenue to educate people and re-orientate youths about cryptocurrencies. The tendency to make it fast through involvement in cryptocurrencies is not in the interest of the society and corps members should not be involved in fraudulent acts such as this.
“Before now, we had alerted members of the public to the tendency by criminal elements to woo them to part with their hard-earned money by making mouth-watering offers to them on bitcoins or cryptocurrencies. Youths, especially the youth corps members, must stay away from this scheme” she said.