Woman defrauds business partners of over N5m, absconded

Photo: Punch

Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command is investigating a 35-year-old graduate, Gladys Assah-Assor from Cross River State for allegedly defrauding her business partners of over N5million.

The suspect has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.

Naija News gathered that the suspect allegedly opened a catering shop, bought a car, and travelled to different places with the proceeds.

Punch reports that the suspect who worked as a network marketer for a company in Ikeja, Lagos State, introduced one of the company’s products to her friend, Nkiruka Okon.

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The duo reportedly agreed to buy the product, Healthy Halogen Oven, for N12,000 per unit, and sell at N20,000.

Okon was alleged to have invested N4.5m into the business, with an expectation of N7.5m, including profit.

However, the suspect was alleged to have fled with the money and her whereabouts unknown for over one year. She was therefore, nabbed by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad after a complaint from Okon.

The suspect allegedly confessed to the crime during interrogation by a decoy team of the RRS.

She said, “‘I met Okon in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, in 2008 while she worked with a commercial bank. We were just friends then.

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“But later in 2015, I marketed Healthy Halogen Oven, a product imported into Nigeria by a network marketing company.

“As a network marketer, my duty is to bring potential customers and partners into the business for a win-win profit-making both for the customer and myself.

“I told Okon about the oven, which was one of the products of the company, sold for N12,000 at company price.

“We agreed to partner in buying large quantities of the product. We agreed to put together the financial capital. I would also do the marketing and transportation of the product to the customers.”

The police said the victim, in her statement, said after she paid the money, Assah-Assor absconded.

She said “I made a deposit of N4.5m into Gladys’ (Assah-Assor) account based on the agreement that after sales, I would collect N7.5m. But she refused to stick to the plan.

“After I contacted her for my share, she refused to pick my calls and absconded for over one year. That was when I realised that I had been duped by the person I thought was my business partner.

“All effort to persuade her to pay my money proved abortive, as she gave me different excuses.

“During one of our confrontations in 2016, Gladys issued me dud cheques of N3m, N2m and N2m, making N7m in total. But the bank told me the cheques were not payable.”

The police said in the course of investigation, it was discovered that it was not the first time that the suspect would be involved in fraud.

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She was alleged to have confessed to duping another woman of N1.8m in a car purchase deal. She confessed to have connected the lady to an auto dealer and the victim paid N1.8m to her for transfer to the dealer. She allegedly ran away with the money.

“She disclosed to investigators that she used proceeds from the fraud to open a catering shop, bought a car, travelled out on vacations and got a suitable apartment for her family,” the RRS said.

The police spokesperson, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said the case had been transferred to the SCIID, Yaba, for further investigation.