The Plateau State Police Command on Wednesday paraded 11 suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo boys, arrested at a residence, in Rantya, Jos South Local Government Area, said to be used for fraud-related activities.

Speaking during the parade of the suspects, alongside others nabbed for other crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping and gunrunning, the Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Adesina, said the Yahoo academy was busted following a tip off from residents.

The CP said that the suspects were nabbed on Sunday, in an apartment in the residence, suspected to have been rented by the academy’s leaders who recruit and train new secondary school graduates to defraud unsuspecting members of the public online.

The CP said, “On 20/10/2024 at about 10:30am, we received a report that the following persons, one Ateh Anthony Idoko and Daniel Idoko, both 23 years old of Agingi, Rukuba Road who are internet fraudsters (Yahoo-Yahoo), conspired among themselves to traffic young boys who have just graduated from secondary school to a secluded residence. They locked them up, seized their phones and having shown them how to masterfully defraud people via romance scam and other cyber related frauds, forced them to go online and continue to defraud innocent would-be victims and in the event where they refuse to cooperate, the ring leader beat them mercilessly with horsewhip.”

After receiving the information, the commissioner of police said that he directed the Divisional Police Officer of Rantya Division to mobilise operatives who afterwards, raided the hideout where 11 suspects were arrested, including the two principal suspects.”

Confessing to the crime, the head of the Yahoo academy, Ateh Anthony, who said he is a 300-level student at the University of Jos, explained that the recruits were restricted from leaving the premises to avoid raising suspicion.

He stated, “Yes, we teach them how to defraud people. It is cybercrime. All those that were brought to the house agreed to participate voluntarily. We did not force anyone. We are 17 in the apartment. We don’t allow the students to go out because we don’t want the police to know what is happening here.’’