Man coordinates multi-million naira fraud from Kuje prison Author: Adeola Opeyemi UPDATED: 4 HOURS AGO VIEWS: 21471 SHARE ON FACEBOOK SEND VIA EMAIL SHARE ON FACEBOOK SEND VIA EMAIL - A man identified as Ifeanyi Ezenwa has masterminded a multi-million naira fraud while in prison - Ezenwa and his gang specialised in using fake bank alerts to defraud their victims - While Ezenwa perpetrated this crime from prison, his wife believed he was in Italy An inmate of Kuje Maximu Prison, Abuja, identified as Ifeanyi Ezenwa has committed series of frauds running into several millions of naira while he is in jail. According to the Inspector-General Police Special Intelligence Response Team, Ezenwa and members of his syndicate specialised in defrauding their victims, especially businessmen with fake bank alerts. NAIJ.com learnt that Ezenwa and his gang normally send the alert on Friday, so as to dissuade their victims from going to bank to verify their payments. Punch reports that a source at the Intelligence Response Team explained that the syndicate operated by approaching traders intending to buy goods from them. The source said: “After negotiations, they would ask their victims to forward their account number in order to do a money transfer. They would inform their victim that the transfer had been made and the victim would receive an alert to the effect. But when a victim goes to the bank to confirm his balance, the money would not be in the account. Ezenwa lied to his wife that he was in Italy while he was masterminding fraud from Kuje prison. READ ALSO: Nigerian couple jailed for 21 years in the US for online fraud “They did this mostly late on Fridays knowing that banks do not work on weekends and the victim may not be able to make any confirmation in the banking halls." The gang's activities became so bad that some of their victims petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris over the matter. Mohammed Saleke, a car dealer in Abuja who was also a victim of the gang, explained that Ezenwa swindled him of a Mercedes G Wagon worth N7m, which was on sale in his stand. According to him, Ezenwasent a man to his car stand, who negotiated price and took a photograph of the vehicle which was sent to the inmate. Ezenwa and his gang has defrauded people of more than forty-eight cars running into several millions of naira. Saleke said: "My boy, Obinna was the one dealing with them and when they agreed to our price. They took my account number and went to the bank to withdraw the money. The insisted on transferring the money to my Diamond Bank account. When I gave it to them, I received an alert after one hour and I called them to come and collect their vehicle. That was on a Friday, but by Monday when I went to the bank to check my account, I discovered there was no money paid in it. “When I received the alert, it had my previous balance in it and the total money was balanced. I wondered how he was able to get access into my account. This incident happened in November 2016 and I have been looking for the vehicle.” READ ALSO: Former PDP chairman named as owner of apartment where EFCC discovered huge cash Investigations so far has revealed that Ezenwa and his team of fraudsters collected 15 tractors in Delta, 18 land cruiser Prado Jeeps, Hummer buses from Elizade motors, 3 exotic cars from a car stand in Abuja and 8 trucks from Edo. The syndicate often send fake bank alerts to victims on Friday afternoon, knowing it would be difficult for them to confirmed the payment until Monday. Ezenwa's wife had no idea that her husband was in Kuje prison until recently when police stormed his home in Abuja to impound stolen cars. When the IRT officials stormed his house, his wife told them that her husband is in Italy and they must have gotten the wrong house. A police source said: He used to send money to his wife from prison, his sister and brothers knew he was in prison but his wife didn't know. Ezenwa reportedly has 17 different fraud cases pending in court and has built several houses and a hotel from the money he made from this illegal business. In the NAIJ.com video below, former managing director of NNPC appeared in court over money laundering and fraud allegations. Read more: