Italian Embassy Exposed Fake Travel Agents in Lagos Ste

Officers of the Special Fraud Unit Ikoyi Lagos have arrested three men Michael Adeoye,Ody Chidebe and Moradeyo Olalekan for alleged conspiracy, forgery and obtaining under false pretence following a petition received from Deputy Consular-General/Head of Visa Operations, Italian Embassy. Following the petition, the Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, ordered a team of police men to apprehend some travel agents who specialized in procuring fake health insurance certificate, visa and other vital travel documents for prospective travelers. The petitioner further alleged that with the fake health insurance certificate, Nigerians will apply for visa at the Italian Embassy and this has been a source of worry as it affects the operations of the Embassy. DSP NGOZI ISINTUME-AGU, the Police Public Relations Officer of the SFU said In the course of investigation, it was discovered that Michael Adeoye, a 38yr old from Otun-Ekiti in Ekiti State who works at Nuyork Network Services at Mini Shop 2, TBS Lagos as a travel agent is the mastermind of the whole crime. He usually commit the crime using Elvia Health Insurance Company based in Denmark and Asa Health Insurance Company based in Germany. “He(Adeoye) confessed that he found the Health Insurance Companies on line and has been defrauding the companies by booking health insurance certificates for travelers without paying any money to the companies. The cost for procuring the certificate is 17Euro but they charge 47Euro which according to them is equivalent to N10,000.00 and this fraud has been going on since 2012. The second suspect, Ody Chidebe, a 31yr old from Nri, Anambra State and a graduate of Federal Polytechnic, Okoh who claimed to be an Insurance Agent corroborated the confession of the first suspect that the business has been on since 2012. According to her, as an Insurance Agent, she can obtain an insurance certificate from any source whether genuine or fake and the Elvia Insurance Certificate was given to her by Michael Adeoye and they have been succeeding in using it to procure visa for travelers until their act was discovered” The statement by the police added that the third suspect Moradeyo Olalekan, a 45yr old from Owu in Abeokuta, Ogun State, a travel agent and the owner of Nuyork Network Services where Michael Adeoye is presently working. His office serves as an avenue for perpetrating the act. He confirmed that Elvia Health Insurance is one of the listed travel insurance on the list of required and accepted health insurance on the website of list travel documents by the Embassy and can be booked on line. He shifted the whole blame to Michael Adeoye whom he said, is in a better position to explain the health insurance in question. Other documents recovered in his office are international passports which according to him belonged to different people for booking of appointments or payment of visa fees in banks. Investigation is on-going. Suspects will be charged to court soonest.