THE gruesome killing of Cynthia Osokogu, the only daughter of
Maj.-Gen. Frank Osokogu, (rtd) by two undergraduates on July 22, 2012,
in Festac Town, Lagos State, has highlighted the frightening danger
behind befriending strangers on the social networks like Facebook,
Twitter, Myspace, e.t.c.
Investigations by Crime Alert into the web of criminality associated with social networks revealed startling cases worse than that of Cynthia Osokogu.
Such cases, unfortunately, involved mostly married women who
out of adventure or deprivation, got engaged to male friends on the
social network only to end up being photographed nude.
Checks carried out in and around Lagos revealed that those that befriend the mature women are usually young men who capitalize on the naivety of their victims to lure them into hotels or exclusive guest houses where they would end up being drugged.
After which photographs
of their nude encounters would be recorded and used to fleece them off
millions of naira.
Many of these victims, over time, have found it increasingly difficult to confront their blackmailers for fear of having their nude photos posted on the internet or having their clandestine activities exposed to their husbands.
Those who braced up to the challenge by
damning the adverse consequences to lodge a report to the police always
insisted on holding it close to their chests.
They pay the police
handsomely urging them not to reveal their secrets.
Police sources who took part during investigation of some of these cases told Crime Alert that some of the suspects arrested during investigations of these blackmail cases were young men who were formally into internet fraud commonly known as Yahoo Yahoo.
They reportedly
resorted into blackmailing and robbing innocent unsuspecting social
media users since internet scams became difficult to reap from.
Sources also added that these cases are common within Festac Town, Satellite Town and Amuwo Odofin areas of Lagos State and they are perpetuated in hotels situated around obscured parts of these areas, the source who craved anonymity, stated.
It was discovered that most of these crimes are usually aided by some staff of the hotels where they are perpetuated.
These hotels and guest
houses are located in hidden corners of the estates or in some cases
positioned at the end of street closes.
Normally, they are not easily identifiable as the owners deliberately or otherwise do not place signboards for easy location, especially by their victims.
A Commercial motorcyclists who also spoke under the guise
of anonymity narrated scaring stories about the physical condition of
their passengers after visiting such hidden resorts.
uSaveOne
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