On September 3, FIJ published a report detailing how Ume Ifechukwu Clinton defrauded Axiel Mahieu, a Belgian woman of €45,000 after posing as an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Ume, a 29-year-old Lagos resident, had contacted Mahieu via Facebook Messenger, introducing himself as a “friend of a friend”.

He subsequently encouraged the Belgian to invest in cryptocurrency and NFTs, while assuring her that he would use his office as an EFCC official to protect her investment.

In the end, he swindled her out of €45,000.

READ MORE: ‘EFCC Official’ Ume Ifechukwu Defrauds Belgian Woman of €45,000

THE RADIO419 VIDEO

While our reporter was investigating the fraud, it was discovered that Ume had earlier been exposed in a two-hour long video by Radio419, a foreign investigator. The video presents Ume as a serial international fraudster who had been disguising as an EFCC official to defraud unsuspecting people, especially non-Nigerians, for years.

Ume, who had told our reporter that he did not have any connection with the EFCC, was seen in the video admitting that he was an EFCC investigative officer. “Which EFCC? Why will I work with the EFCC?” He had told our reporter.

“I don’t even know where the EFCC office is. Why would I have an EFCC ID Card? Is that not scam?”

READ ALSO: Fake Army General’s Victim Receives Vehicles, Land as Part-Repayment of N266m Fraud

A LEVEL 12 OFFICER?

In the video, Ume could be seen trying to convince Patek (not real name), the American who caught his face on camera, that he was indeed an EFCC official.

When asked about his salary as one of the commission’s official, Ume says his salary is not so high but sufficient.

“It’s an average price. The price one earns as an EFCC official depends on the level. It’s a government job so there are different levels depending on one’s qualification. I came in as a level nine officer as a graduate,” Ume says in the video.

“I’m currently on level 12. So, I get about N180,000. It’s not that high though because its about $380 in the US. That’s what I earn per month.”

READ MORE: ‘EFCC Official’ Ume Ifechukwu Defrauds Belgian Woman of €45,000

A COOKED-UP STORY TO LURE UNSUSPECTING VICTIMS

Ume’s modus operandi was reaching out to foreigners who had been victims of internet fraud. He would then offer his services as an EFCC officer to them. After winning the victim’s trust, he would defraud them of more money.

“Once a scammer scams, once we have the evidence, we can always track them. The most important evidence is the bank receipt. They go a very long way,” Ume says in the video.

Describing his ‘EFCC team’ to Patek, he says it is made up of three officers.

“We work on intel to decipher stuffs. Sometimes, we are about 15 men, including women too. It depends on the number of people we are going to catch. We are at least 10 for each operation,” he says.

READ ALSO: Expertnaire Silent One Week After Pledging to Investigate Affiliate’s Fraud

‘THE HACKER WORKING WITH THE GOVERNMENT’

In the video, Ume repeatedly tries to convince Patek about his expertise as an investigator who worked diligently for the Nigerian government.

“One thing about life is for every action in life, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. No matter how strong you think a firewall is, there is a software strong enough to break down that firewall,” Ume claims.

“All these things you don’t need to be in the country. You see people in the US trying to hack down softwares in Japan and Russia. That’s how technology works. You don’t have to be present in that country to hack that country. There are geniuses here in Nigeria.

“Just like I did study abroad, the people who went abroad and studied this things and they are back in Nigeria are geniuses. Over here in Nigeria, people would rather work with the government than work for private organisations because of the job security.

“Most of these hackers would rather work with the government because of the job security.”

READ ALSO: EFCC Arrests 29 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Owerri

THE MIND OF A FRAUDSTER

While trying to convince Patek repeatedly of not been a scammer, Ume puts himself in the shoes of a typical scammer, just to demonstrate he knows how fraud works.

“If I were one of them (scammers), in their shoes, with my area of expertise, if we needed information, information is always held by someone or group of people, all we need to do is offer them more than what the person that pays them to keep that information is paying them,” Ume says.

“Everyone has a price. Just be ready with their price and give them what they want. They would give you what you want.”

THE WEB OF LIES

Ume gives Patel an insight into how the fraud business works in his bid to assure him that he is in the business of catching criminals.

”Once payment is made, we would start working immediately on the first case,” Ume says.

“The key is getting the criminals. Once we can get the criminals, the percentage of recovery and getting the money back is high. Once we can get the scammers, that’s what is important.

“For example, if a scammer scams about 10,000 people and then gets caught, sometimes they don’t want to get to prison and they tell you that they would give you back 50 percent and beg that they won’t do it again [sic].

“Sometimes, some of them are willing to pay more than what they took. ‘I will give you $15,000’. Just let me go and I won’t do it again.”

READ ALSO: EFCC Extradites Nigerian Wanted by FBI Over $3.5m Fraud to the US

UME’S TWITTER HANDLE

FIJ found out that Ume operated a Twitter handle with the username @ClintDEsync, where he usually did giveaways for his followers.

However, after he was found out, he locked his account, blocked our reporter and changed his username to @LightofGod93.

All efforts to reach Ume have been futile since then, as he stopped entertaining calls and responding to messages.