By Afeez Hanafi
About 354 forex trade investors allegedly defrauded by an ex-banker, Seye Onigbinde, are currently embittered after their investments went down the drain. Some of them, who spoke with City Round on Friday, said they were convinced to put their money in the scheme, thinking it would bring fortunes.
Onigbinde is being investigated by the police at the Area F Command, Ikeja, Lagos, led by ACP Akinbayo Olasoji, over a sum of N574.2m. He allegedly obtained the sum from his unsuspecting victims while promising them a monthly interest of 20 to 30 per cent.
According to the police, the suspect claimed to have paid principal and interest to the tune of N482.3m, remaining an outstanding of N233.4m. It was gathered that the suspect operated the scheme as a business venture named Blueprint Business Development and Consulting located on Hughes Street, Alagomeji, Yaba.
The police spokesperson in the state, DSP Bala Elkana, while confirming Onigbinde’s arrest, had said, “He collected this money from these individuals with a promise of extraordinary gains to those willing to invest in the scheme which he claimed was built on lucrative trading in forex trading, Bitcoin and shares purchase from four international brokers.
“This get-rich-quick scheme attracted gullible and greedy investors, who received the expected high returns. The more investors his scheme attracted, he created a business and used agents to find more and more investors.”
Our correspondent gathered that the victims include bankers, business owners, and civil servants with individual investment ranging from N1m to N10m. Some of them, who spoke with City Round and identified themselves only by their first names, said Onigbinde dashed their hopes.
A worker at a consulting firm, Oyinlade, said her current investment is N1.3m, adding that a friend linked her with Onigbinde in February 2019.
“I started with N200,000 and I got 20 per cent interest. I reinvested all the money and added N50,000. I got more money and reinvested. I thought it would yield a fortune and I increased it to N1.3m in July 2019. The money was supposed to be due for payment on September 29.