Police officials of the Oyo State Police Command have arrested a Yoruba actor for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting traders with fake bank alerts in Ibadan, Oyo state.

The “actor” named Olumide Olajide was paraded alongside his partner, Wemimo Adeyanju, a Higher National Diploma student of Purchasing and Supply at a polytechnic in the South-West at the state police command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan.

Asked how he was able to generate the fake bank alerts, Olajide said he would ask for the account numbers and names of the sellers after buying goods from them, after which he would use the information to generate their details by dialling the USSD code of his bank.

After generating the recipient’s name, he said he would alter the old bank alert sent to him by his bank and change the date and the amount, and resend same to the recipient. According to him, the fake alert sent will show on the recipient’s phone as a genuine alert from his bank.

Olajide said, according to Punch: “I did it just three times before I was arrested. After seeing the alert, they would allow me to go away with the goods paid for with the fake bank alert. I went to another shop and a woman recognized me through the display photograph on my WhatsApp and raised the alarm.”

Wemimo added that he went out with the prime suspect. He admitted that Olajide used the fake bank alert to purchase some items on an occasion that he accompanied him.

“He did it once. He was the one who did it, but I followed him that day,” Wemimo Adeyanju stated.

Police sources said Olajide had an app on his phone through which he was generating fake bank alerts to defraud traders.