![\"Odalo,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2-A-screenshot-of-the-chat-between-Elsa-and-Odalo-It-shows-the-day-Odalo-slid-into-her-Twitter-now-X-DM.jpg?resize=540%2C934\" "\\"\\"")
The bait, the baiter, and the baited<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nElsa recounted to DUBAWA what ensued after the few minutes of her conversation with Odalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter confirming I wasn\u2019t the person he knew, he said, since I am here, let\u2019s continue the conversation. So, we spoke for about a week before he said he had something to tell me. But before he brought it up, we have been talking every day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Odalo,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/3-A-screenshot-of-one-of-Elsa-and-Odalos-conversations.jpg?resize=541%2C951\" "\\"\\"")
A screenshot of one of Elsa and Odalo\u2019s conversations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nElsa and Odalo developed a friendship similar to a relationship between April and July of 2022. They talked a lot through consistent voice and video calls. However, because Odalo claimed to reside in Benin, she could not meet him in person. Their lack of physical meeting made Elsa hesitant to \u201cofficially date him,\u201d but Odalo assured her they would soon meet as he plans to be in Lagos soon because of a problem he needed to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Lord Baelish, the cunning fictional character in the Game of Thrones, Odalo didn\u2019t reveal his problem to Elsa immediately, but when prodded, <\/em>“How are you,\u201d he responded, “I\u2019m not fine. I haven\u2019t been fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the evening of that day, Elsa pushed again. She was curious to know what was wrong with her friend, maybe her lover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Odalo replied that he was very ill and had a heart condition. He also sent an echocardiography report as proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe right side of my heart is swollen. It became pretty serious over the past few days,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He claimed he was in pain, the pills he had been taking weren\u2019t helping him much, and that he needed surgery worth N3.3 million to remove \u201cblood clots and reduce swelling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further claimed that he had most of the money and needed N200,000 as balance \u2013 a manipulative strategy skilled scammers use to make victims feel at ease by acting like they have money and only need a little help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, his tactic worked. Elsa asked for his account details, which he provided swiftly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Odalo.](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/4-Some-screenshots-of-Odalo-message-to-Elsa-1024x819.png?resize=1024%2C819\" "\\"\\"")
Some screenshots of Odalo\u2019s message to Elsa. Photo source: Elsa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe account details he sent were 0768696473, Access Bank, Obhafuoso Emmanuel Iriodalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romance Scam: The beginning of billing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe moment Odalo sent his account details was the beginning of Elsa\u2019s spending in a bid to get him healthy. Elsa said she crowdfunded about N30,000 for him on Twitter, but it was barely enough to cover his alleged health expenses, so she also sent him some of her savings. Elsa sent Odalo over N397,000 before she realised she was being scammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSixty thousand naira on April 29. That was the first money I sent. (I also sent) N26,000 on April 30. There was N20,000 on May 1st, N225,000 for the balance of surgery, and N66,000 for drugs on the 6th of July. There were some 1k sprinkled here and there,\u201d Elsa recounted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Odalo,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/5-A-screenshot-of-some-of-Elsa-transfer-receipts-of-monies-sent-to-Odalo.png?resize=1024%2C819\" "\\"\\"")
A screenshot of some of Elsa\u2019s transfer receipts of monies sent to Odalo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne morning in July, he expressed his love and gratitude to her: \u201cI love you. Thank you for being by my side this past couple of months. I really appreciate you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nDuring the relationship, Elsa said she always felt something was not right, but she couldn\u2019t pinpoint it until one day when a mutual friend of hers and Odalo reached out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe said she saw that I tweeted something about how one of my friends has a heart condition and that she just put two and two together and that it is the picture of the person I tweeted about. She sent me a picture of Odalo, and I confirmed it was him. She then said okay, that they went to secondary school together, and they just found out he was a scam, and some boys in secondary school had gone to confront him,\u201d Elsa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the revelation, Elsa said she waited for Odalo to confess his fraudulent nature to her, but he never did. Suspecting he may never be honest, she confronted him. Days after the confrontation, in a message that appeared to be emotionally blackmailing, Odalo apologised for hurting her and lying to her to acquire money. He reassured her of his love and promised to be a better person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon the confession, Elsa said she stopped sending him money. She also tried to forgive him and stay as friends, but she eventually blocked him as more secrets were unveiled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI genuinely tried to forgive him,\u201d she told DUBAWA. \u201cI thought it was a one-off thing, and I was the only woman. We weren’t texting as often because how I felt about him had drastically changed. I finally blocked him in December because I did not want to have any communication with him again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsa stated that she deleted the crowdfunding message on social media and asked people not to send money to the account anymore. She also exposed him as a con artist<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cHe was in my DM too\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nOdalo appears to use social engineering<\/a>, a tactic used to manipulate people into making errors and giving away their valuables. After scrutinising the bios of the over 20 women on Twitter who said Odalo had contacted them too, we observed that he targets women in their 20s who have \u201centrepreneurs\u201d in their profile or are vendors. Some of their stories can be found here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHis strategies, when dealing with the women, appear identical. After forming a relationship, he sends a charming message, then claims he has a heart disease or any similar deadly illness. Odalo\u2019s modus operandi transcends Twitter; he also shared his alleged illness with his contacts on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Odalo,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/6-A-screenshot-of-Odalo-conversation-with-another-victim-Gloria.jpg?resize=544%2C1024\" "\\"\\"")
A screenshot of Odalo\u2019s conversation with another victim, Gloria. Photo source: Gloria’s Twitter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of his female friends, Gloria<\/a>, after learning that he needed funds for a \u201cheart surgery,\u201d sent him N10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI have a story with this guy too. It\u2019s sad mehn. I have known him for a long while as an artist & a friend. I\u2019ll post my last chats I had with him. I sent him money too out of pity,\u201d Gloria said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diving deep<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nLike he did with Elsa, Odalo sends an \u201cEchocardiography Report\u201d as evidence of his heart disease to possibly earn trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the National Library of Medicine, Echocardiography<\/a> involves using ultrasound to evaluate the structural components of the heart in a minimally invasive strategy. The procedure allows the clinician to obtain real-time sizes, structure, and function of the heart during the cardiac cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Echo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/7-Odalo-Echocardiography-Report-was-allegedly-conducted-at-Lutron-Medical-Centre-Benin-Photo-source-Elsa-1024x819.png?resize=1024%2C819\" "\\"\\"")
Odalo\u2019s Echocardiography Report was allegedly conducted at Lutron Medical Centre, Benin. Photo source: Elsa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDUBAWA contacted a medical practitioner, Dr Richard Ogunlusi, to verify if Odalo\u2019s Echocardiography report was genuine and if Odalo indeed had a heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s difficult to say without seeing the patient and running another test elsewhere. The result could have been doctored. The ladies need to take him for an independent Echo\/ECG test elsewhere to be sure,\u201d the Public Health Medicine specialist, Dr Ogunlusi, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DUBAWA also contacted Lutron Medical Centre<\/a>, where Odalo allegedly took the report and whose letterhead carried the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Human Resources Manager of the private healthcare, Lotachukwu Ezeanom, after an internal investigation, told DUBAWA that although the report possibly emanated from their centre, the details, including the person\u2019s name, have been altered. She further highlighted that the conditions diagnosed do not require surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forensic Analysis of Odalo\u2019s \u201cEchocardiography Report\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nVarious editing tools, including Photoshop<\/a> and Affinity Photo<\/a>, can be employed to manipulate<\/a> images, while documents can be altered using modern apps with powerful personal items like Almanac. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, to ascertain if Odalo forged his echocardiography report, DUBAWA used the digital image forensics tool Forensically<\/a>, to analyse it. A clone detection analysis with the tool showed that the document contained significant noise levels, meaning it had been manipulated. Consistent with Lutron\u2019s hospital staff comment, details of the result have been altered at different points, particularly on the first page, where Odalo\u2019s details appeared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Forensically\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/8-A-screenshot-of-the-forensic-analysis-of-Odalo-alleged-echocardiography-report-carried-out-on-Oct-13-2023.jpg?resize=953%2C642\" "\\"\\"")
A screenshot of the forensic analysis of Odalo\u2019s alleged echocardiography report carried out on Oct. 13, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAlso, DUBAWA observed that there was neither a signature nor stamp on the document to ascertain that it had originated from the medical centre. The test date was also missing, suggesting it had been cut out, blurred, or unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Odalo\u2019s action is romance fraud, and here\u2019s why<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAfter investigating the authenticity of Odalo\u2019s \u201cheart result\u201d from Lutron Medical Centre, and forensically, it is apparent that the document he presents as evidence is forged, and his \u201cheart surgery\u201d story is also fabricated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, when this reporter asked Elsa if she reported the case to the authorities, she responded in the negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have not attempted to report him to the authorities because, technically, he did not steal from me. I gave him the money freely,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsa and many people may not realise that Odalo\u2019s gesture is textbook \u201cromance fraud.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the Nigerian constitution does not define romance fraud or make provisions for it. Victims can only seek redress through another window like deceit or fraud,\u201d lawyer Ifiok Uko said, reacting to DUBAWA\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Section 14(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 has been used to prosecute such people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny person who with intent to defraud sends electronic message materially misrepresents any fact or set of facts upon which reliance the recipient or another person is caused to suffer any damage or loss, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 5 years and to a fine of not less than N10,000,000.00 or to both fine and imprisonment,” the Act states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent past, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also prosecuted romance scammers based on this act. Some cases can be found here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDUBAWA sent a brief of our findings about Odalo to EFCC to inspire enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amidst the mask and lies, who is Odalo?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nDUBAWA contacted Odalo through multiple channels. He declined the calls we put through to him and has failed to respond to our messages and emails. He has also since deactivated the account linked to him, \u201c@metaphourr,\u201d on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Odalo,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Odalo-image.jpg?resize=768%2C1024\" "\\"\\"")
A photo of Odalo. Image source: Elsa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt is not certain who he truly is, as he shares different stories with multiple women. However, according to public records on YouTube<\/a>, Odalo appears to be a rapper. He featured in the 2019 song \u201cThe Martell cypher.\u201d Identifying as \u201cOdyssey,\u201d he rapped from 2:25 minutes to 3:46 in the 5-minute song.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHe also attended the University of Benin Demonstration Secondary School (UDSS<\/a>). In a footage<\/a> published on Twitter, Odalo \u2018admitted to dupping the UDSS 14\u2019 set of their money\u2013 over N400,000 for an alleged surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough Elsa would rather forget the ordeal Odalo put her through, there is room for victims to seek justice for romance scams in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving on\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nElsa was embarrassed by the incident and has experienced severe mental and emotional stress. She told DUBAWA that she doesn\u2019t believe in helping people anymore, particularly strangers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight now, I don’t give anybody anything. I don\u2019t care who you are,\u201d Elsa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Gloria, who sent Odalo N10,000, the experience has made her question her approach to people. \u201cPeople like this (Odalo) make you question being a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Ola Ibigbami, a mental health specialist and public health advocate, advised that victims who have suffered from romance scams can deal with the aftermath by focusing on their well-being, noting red flags for future occurrence, and surrounding themselves with supportive people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeek your well-being first by taking time out to heal, spend quality time with good people, not necessarily the opposite sex, believe that other relationships will come with good benefits, have a checklist of what you really want in a relationship and don\u2019t compromise!,\u201d said Dr Ibigbami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a day when stars seemed at peace, Elsa (who requested that we use only her first name) fell for the oldest wooing trick in the game of romance. Sometimes, when a man wants to strike up a conversation with a lady, he pretends to know her from somewhere. Depending on her mood and response, he continues with his frolic. Well, the 25-year-old student and fashion entrepreneur Elsa was in a good mood when Odalo contacted her; she responded nicely. It was April 17, 2022, and Odalo had sent her a Twitter (now X) direct message: \u201cHeyy, did you attend MMAS by any chance?\u201d \u201cHiya, I’m a bit unsure what MMAS is,\u201d Elsa responded. \u201cLol, then it\u2019s definitely not you. You look like a primary school classmate who used to tease me about my glasses so much; Murtala Muhammed Airport School,\u201d Odalo wrote, asserting she doesn\u2019t know him but at the same time introducing an interesting detail about his past. Iriodalo Emmanuel Obhafuoso (Odalo) has been accused of cajoling women into sending him money by claiming a deadly illness. So, when DUBAWA came across his story on Twitter from some of his victims, we decided to investigate the depth of his relationship with Elsa, tactics, and claims. The bait, the baiter, and the baited Elsa recounted to DUBAWA what ensued after the few minutes of her conversation with Odalo. \u201cAfter confirming I wasn\u2019t the person he knew, he said, since I am here, let\u2019s continue the conversation. So, we spoke for about a week before he said he had something to tell me. But before he brought it up, we have been talking every day,\u201d she said. Elsa and Odalo developed a friendship similar to a relationship between April and July of 2022. They talked a lot through consistent voice and video calls. However, because Odalo claimed to reside in Benin, she could not meet him in person. Their lack of physical meeting made Elsa hesitant to \u201cofficially date him,\u201d but Odalo assured her they would soon meet as he plans to be in Lagos soon because of a problem he needed to solve. Like Lord Baelish, the cunning fictional character in the Game of Thrones, Odalo didn\u2019t reveal his problem to Elsa immediately, but when prodded, “How are you,\u201d he responded, “I\u2019m not fine. I haven\u2019t been fine.\u201d In the evening of that day, Elsa pushed again. She was curious to know what was wrong with her friend, maybe her lover. Odalo replied that he was very ill and had a heart condition. He also sent an echocardiography report as proof. \u201cThe right side of my heart is swollen. It became pretty serious over the past few days,\u201d he said. He claimed he was in pain, the pills he had been taking weren\u2019t helping him much, and that he needed surgery worth N3.3 million to remove \u201cblood clots and reduce swelling.\u201d He further claimed that he had most of the money and needed N200,000 as balance \u2013 a manipulative strategy skilled scammers use to make victims feel at ease by acting like they have money and only need a little help. Again, his tactic worked. Elsa asked for his account details, which he provided swiftly. The account details he sent were 0768696473, Access Bank, Obhafuoso Emmanuel Iriodalo. Romance Scam: The beginning of billing The moment Odalo sent his account details was the beginning of Elsa\u2019s spending in a bid to get him healthy. Elsa said she crowdfunded about N30,000 for him on Twitter, but it was barely enough to cover his alleged health expenses, so she also sent him some of her savings. Elsa sent Odalo over N397,000 before she realised she was being scammed. \u201cSixty thousand naira on April 29. That was the first money I sent. (I also sent) N26,000 on April 30. There was N20,000 on May 1st, N225,000 for the balance of surgery, and N66,000 for drugs on the 6th of July. There were some 1k sprinkled here and there,\u201d Elsa recounted. One morning in July, he expressed his love and gratitude to her: \u201cI love you. Thank you for being by my side this past couple of months. I really appreciate you.\u201d \u2018Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner\u2019 During the relationship, Elsa said she always felt something was not right, but she couldn\u2019t pinpoint it until one day when a mutual friend of hers and Odalo reached out. \u201cShe said she saw that I tweeted something about how one of my friends has a heart condition and that she just put two and two together and that it is the picture of the person I tweeted about. She sent me a picture of Odalo, and I confirmed it was him. She then said okay, that they went to secondary school together, and they just found out he was a scam, and some boys in secondary school had gone to confront him,\u201d Elsa said. After the revelation, Elsa said she waited for Odalo to confess his fraudulent nature to her, but he never did. Suspecting he may never be honest, she confronted him. Days after the confrontation, in a message that appeared to be emotionally blackmailing, Odalo apologised for hurting her and lying to her to acquire money. He reassured her of his love and promised to be a better person. Upon the confession, Elsa said she stopped sending him money. She also tried to forgive him and stay as friends, but she eventually blocked him as more secrets were unveiled. \u201cI genuinely tried to forgive him,\u201d she told DUBAWA. \u201cI thought it was a one-off thing, and I was the only woman. We weren’t texting as often because how I felt about him had drastically changed. I finally blocked him in December because I did not want to have any communication with him again,\u201d she said. Elsa stated that she deleted the crowdfunding message on social media and asked people not to send money to the account<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":16528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,4,3812,121,3815,123],"tags":[487,3016,24,3871,115,347,3872,3874,3866,3868,3865,3867,3870,3869],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3688],"class_list":["post-16519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-featured","category-headline","category-health","category-homepage","category-mainstream","tag-dubawa","tag-economic-and-financial-crimes-commission-efcc","tag-efcc","tag-elsa","tag-fact-check","tag-featured","tag-iriodalo-emmanuel-obhafuoso","tag-lutron-medical-centre","tag-nigeria-twitter-swindler","tag-nigerias-twitter-swindler","tag-odalo","tag-romance-scammer","tag-simbiat-bakare","tag-x"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-4ir","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3688,"user_id":131,"is_guest":0,"slug":"simbiat","display_name":"Simbiat Bakare","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb274e26ec2438c1ffa80c743780ac9034a44b76786647c5d47675222fdb1c63?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Bakare","first_name":"Simbiat","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Nigerias-Twitter-swindler-Iriodalo-Emmanuel-Obhafuoso.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16546,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions\/16546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=16519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Elsa and Odalo developed a friendship similar to a relationship between April and July of 2022. They talked a lot through consistent voice and video calls. However, because Odalo claimed to reside in Benin, she could not meet him in person. Their lack of physical meeting made Elsa hesitant to \u201cofficially date him,\u201d but Odalo assured her they would soon meet as he plans to be in Lagos soon because of a problem he needed to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Lord Baelish, the cunning fictional character in the Game of Thrones, Odalo didn\u2019t reveal his problem to Elsa immediately, but when prodded, <\/em>“How are you,\u201d he responded, “I\u2019m not fine. I haven\u2019t been fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the evening of that day, Elsa pushed again. She was curious to know what was wrong with her friend, maybe her lover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Odalo replied that he was very ill and had a heart condition. He also sent an echocardiography report as proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe right side of my heart is swollen. It became pretty serious over the past few days,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He claimed he was in pain, the pills he had been taking weren\u2019t helping him much, and that he needed surgery worth N3.3 million to remove \u201cblood clots and reduce swelling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He further claimed that he had most of the money and needed N200,000 as balance \u2013 a manipulative strategy skilled scammers use to make victims feel at ease by acting like they have money and only need a little help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, his tactic worked. Elsa asked for his account details, which he provided swiftly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The account details he sent were 0768696473, Access Bank, Obhafuoso Emmanuel Iriodalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment Odalo sent his account details was the beginning of Elsa\u2019s spending in a bid to get him healthy. Elsa said she crowdfunded about N30,000 for him on Twitter, but it was barely enough to cover his alleged health expenses, so she also sent him some of her savings. Elsa sent Odalo over N397,000 before she realised she was being scammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSixty thousand naira on April 29. That was the first money I sent. (I also sent) N26,000 on April 30. There was N20,000 on May 1st, N225,000 for the balance of surgery, and N66,000 for drugs on the 6th of July. There were some 1k sprinkled here and there,\u201d Elsa recounted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One morning in July, he expressed his love and gratitude to her: \u201cI love you. Thank you for being by my side this past couple of months. I really appreciate you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the relationship, Elsa said she always felt something was not right, but she couldn\u2019t pinpoint it until one day when a mutual friend of hers and Odalo reached out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe said she saw that I tweeted something about how one of my friends has a heart condition and that she just put two and two together and that it is the picture of the person I tweeted about. She sent me a picture of Odalo, and I confirmed it was him. She then said okay, that they went to secondary school together, and they just found out he was a scam, and some boys in secondary school had gone to confront him,\u201d Elsa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the revelation, Elsa said she waited for Odalo to confess his fraudulent nature to her, but he never did. Suspecting he may never be honest, she confronted him. Days after the confrontation, in a message that appeared to be emotionally blackmailing, Odalo apologised for hurting her and lying to her to acquire money. He reassured her of his love and promised to be a better person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon the confession, Elsa said she stopped sending him money. She also tried to forgive him and stay as friends, but she eventually blocked him as more secrets were unveiled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI genuinely tried to forgive him,\u201d she told DUBAWA. \u201cI thought it was a one-off thing, and I was the only woman. We weren’t texting as often because how I felt about him had drastically changed. I finally blocked him in December because I did not want to have any communication with him again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsa stated that she deleted the crowdfunding message on social media and asked people not to send money to the account anymore. She also exposed him as a con artist<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Odalo appears to use social engineering<\/a>, a tactic used to manipulate people into making errors and giving away their valuables. After scrutinising the bios of the over 20 women on Twitter who said Odalo had contacted them too, we observed that he targets women in their 20s who have \u201centrepreneurs\u201d in their profile or are vendors. Some of their stories can be found here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His strategies, when dealing with the women, appear identical. After forming a relationship, he sends a charming message, then claims he has a heart disease or any similar deadly illness. Odalo\u2019s modus operandi transcends Twitter; he also shared his alleged illness with his contacts on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of his female friends, Gloria<\/a>, after learning that he needed funds for a \u201cheart surgery,\u201d sent him N10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have a story with this guy too. It\u2019s sad mehn. I have known him for a long while as an artist & a friend. I\u2019ll post my last chats I had with him. I sent him money too out of pity,\u201d Gloria said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like he did with Elsa, Odalo sends an \u201cEchocardiography Report\u201d as evidence of his heart disease to possibly earn trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the National Library of Medicine, Echocardiography<\/a> involves using ultrasound to evaluate the structural components of the heart in a minimally invasive strategy. The procedure allows the clinician to obtain real-time sizes, structure, and function of the heart during the cardiac cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DUBAWA contacted a medical practitioner, Dr Richard Ogunlusi, to verify if Odalo\u2019s Echocardiography report was genuine and if Odalo indeed had a heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s difficult to say without seeing the patient and running another test elsewhere. The result could have been doctored. The ladies need to take him for an independent Echo\/ECG test elsewhere to be sure,\u201d the Public Health Medicine specialist, Dr Ogunlusi, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DUBAWA also contacted Lutron Medical Centre<\/a>, where Odalo allegedly took the report and whose letterhead carried the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Human Resources Manager of the private healthcare, Lotachukwu Ezeanom, after an internal investigation, told DUBAWA that although the report possibly emanated from their centre, the details, including the person\u2019s name, have been altered. She further highlighted that the conditions diagnosed do not require surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various editing tools, including Photoshop<\/a> and Affinity Photo<\/a>, can be employed to manipulate<\/a> images, while documents can be altered using modern apps with powerful personal items like Almanac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, to ascertain if Odalo forged his echocardiography report, DUBAWA used the digital image forensics tool Forensically<\/a>, to analyse it. A clone detection analysis with the tool showed that the document contained significant noise levels, meaning it had been manipulated. Consistent with Lutron\u2019s hospital staff comment, details of the result have been altered at different points, particularly on the first page, where Odalo\u2019s details appeared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, DUBAWA observed that there was neither a signature nor stamp on the document to ascertain that it had originated from the medical centre. The test date was also missing, suggesting it had been cut out, blurred, or unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After investigating the authenticity of Odalo\u2019s \u201cheart result\u201d from Lutron Medical Centre, and forensically, it is apparent that the document he presents as evidence is forged, and his \u201cheart surgery\u201d story is also fabricated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, when this reporter asked Elsa if she reported the case to the authorities, she responded in the negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have not attempted to report him to the authorities because, technically, he did not steal from me. I gave him the money freely,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsa and many people may not realise that Odalo\u2019s gesture is textbook \u201cromance fraud.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnfortunately, the Nigerian constitution does not define romance fraud or make provisions for it. Victims can only seek redress through another window like deceit or fraud,\u201d lawyer Ifiok Uko said, reacting to DUBAWA\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Section 14(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 has been used to prosecute such people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny person who with intent to defraud sends electronic message materially misrepresents any fact or set of facts upon which reliance the recipient or another person is caused to suffer any damage or loss, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 5 years and to a fine of not less than N10,000,000.00 or to both fine and imprisonment,” the Act states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent past, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also prosecuted romance scammers based on this act. Some cases can be found here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n DUBAWA sent a brief of our findings about Odalo to EFCC to inspire enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DUBAWA contacted Odalo through multiple channels. He declined the calls we put through to him and has failed to respond to our messages and emails. He has also since deactivated the account linked to him, \u201c@metaphourr,\u201d on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not certain who he truly is, as he shares different stories with multiple women. However, according to public records on YouTube<\/a>, Odalo appears to be a rapper. He featured in the 2019 song \u201cThe Martell cypher.\u201d Identifying as \u201cOdyssey,\u201d he rapped from 2:25 minutes to 3:46 in the 5-minute song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also attended the University of Benin Demonstration Secondary School (UDSS<\/a>). In a footage<\/a> published on Twitter, Odalo \u2018admitted to dupping the UDSS 14\u2019 set of their money\u2013 over N400,000 for an alleged surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Elsa would rather forget the ordeal Odalo put her through, there is room for victims to seek justice for romance scams in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsa was embarrassed by the incident and has experienced severe mental and emotional stress. She told DUBAWA that she doesn\u2019t believe in helping people anymore, particularly strangers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight now, I don’t give anybody anything. I don\u2019t care who you are,\u201d Elsa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Gloria, who sent Odalo N10,000, the experience has made her question her approach to people. \u201cPeople like this (Odalo) make you question being a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Ola Ibigbami, a mental health specialist and public health advocate, advised that victims who have suffered from romance scams can deal with the aftermath by focusing on their well-being, noting red flags for future occurrence, and surrounding themselves with supportive people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSeek your well-being first by taking time out to heal, spend quality time with good people, not necessarily the opposite sex, believe that other relationships will come with good benefits, have a checklist of what you really want in a relationship and don\u2019t compromise!,\u201d said Dr Ibigbami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a day when stars seemed at peace, Elsa (who requested that we use only her first name) fell for the oldest wooing trick in the game of romance. Sometimes, when a man wants to strike up a conversation with a lady, he pretends to know her from somewhere. Depending on her mood and response, he continues with his frolic. Well, the 25-year-old student and fashion entrepreneur Elsa was in a good mood when Odalo contacted her; she responded nicely. It was April 17, 2022, and Odalo had sent her a Twitter (now X) direct message: \u201cHeyy, did you attend MMAS by any chance?\u201d \u201cHiya, I’m a bit unsure what MMAS is,\u201d Elsa responded. \u201cLol, then it\u2019s definitely not you. You look like a primary school classmate who used to tease me about my glasses so much; Murtala Muhammed Airport School,\u201d Odalo wrote, asserting she doesn\u2019t know him but at the same time introducing an interesting detail about his past. Iriodalo Emmanuel Obhafuoso (Odalo) has been accused of cajoling women into sending him money by claiming a deadly illness. So, when DUBAWA came across his story on Twitter from some of his victims, we decided to investigate the depth of his relationship with Elsa, tactics, and claims. The bait, the baiter, and the baited Elsa recounted to DUBAWA what ensued after the few minutes of her conversation with Odalo. \u201cAfter confirming I wasn\u2019t the person he knew, he said, since I am here, let\u2019s continue the conversation. So, we spoke for about a week before he said he had something to tell me. But before he brought it up, we have been talking every day,\u201d she said. Elsa and Odalo developed a friendship similar to a relationship between April and July of 2022. They talked a lot through consistent voice and video calls. However, because Odalo claimed to reside in Benin, she could not meet him in person. Their lack of physical meeting made Elsa hesitant to \u201cofficially date him,\u201d but Odalo assured her they would soon meet as he plans to be in Lagos soon because of a problem he needed to solve. Like Lord Baelish, the cunning fictional character in the Game of Thrones, Odalo didn\u2019t reveal his problem to Elsa immediately, but when prodded, “How are you,\u201d he responded, “I\u2019m not fine. I haven\u2019t been fine.\u201d In the evening of that day, Elsa pushed again. She was curious to know what was wrong with her friend, maybe her lover. Odalo replied that he was very ill and had a heart condition. He also sent an echocardiography report as proof. \u201cThe right side of my heart is swollen. It became pretty serious over the past few days,\u201d he said. He claimed he was in pain, the pills he had been taking weren\u2019t helping him much, and that he needed surgery worth N3.3 million to remove \u201cblood clots and reduce swelling.\u201d He further claimed that he had most of the money and needed N200,000 as balance \u2013 a manipulative strategy skilled scammers use to make victims feel at ease by acting like they have money and only need a little help. Again, his tactic worked. Elsa asked for his account details, which he provided swiftly. The account details he sent were 0768696473, Access Bank, Obhafuoso Emmanuel Iriodalo. Romance Scam: The beginning of billing The moment Odalo sent his account details was the beginning of Elsa\u2019s spending in a bid to get him healthy. Elsa said she crowdfunded about N30,000 for him on Twitter, but it was barely enough to cover his alleged health expenses, so she also sent him some of her savings. Elsa sent Odalo over N397,000 before she realised she was being scammed. \u201cSixty thousand naira on April 29. That was the first money I sent. (I also sent) N26,000 on April 30. There was N20,000 on May 1st, N225,000 for the balance of surgery, and N66,000 for drugs on the 6th of July. There were some 1k sprinkled here and there,\u201d Elsa recounted. One morning in July, he expressed his love and gratitude to her: \u201cI love you. Thank you for being by my side this past couple of months. I really appreciate you.\u201d \u2018Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner\u2019 During the relationship, Elsa said she always felt something was not right, but she couldn\u2019t pinpoint it until one day when a mutual friend of hers and Odalo reached out. \u201cShe said she saw that I tweeted something about how one of my friends has a heart condition and that she just put two and two together and that it is the picture of the person I tweeted about. She sent me a picture of Odalo, and I confirmed it was him. She then said okay, that they went to secondary school together, and they just found out he was a scam, and some boys in secondary school had gone to confront him,\u201d Elsa said. After the revelation, Elsa said she waited for Odalo to confess his fraudulent nature to her, but he never did. Suspecting he may never be honest, she confronted him. Days after the confrontation, in a message that appeared to be emotionally blackmailing, Odalo apologised for hurting her and lying to her to acquire money. He reassured her of his love and promised to be a better person. Upon the confession, Elsa said she stopped sending him money. She also tried to forgive him and stay as friends, but she eventually blocked him as more secrets were unveiled. \u201cI genuinely tried to forgive him,\u201d she told DUBAWA. \u201cI thought it was a one-off thing, and I was the only woman. We weren’t texting as often because how I felt about him had drastically changed. I finally blocked him in December because I did not want to have any communication with him again,\u201d she said. Elsa stated that she deleted the crowdfunding message on social media and asked people not to send money to the account<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":16528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,4,3812,121,3815,123],"tags":[487,3016,24,3871,115,347,3872,3874,3866,3868,3865,3867,3870,3869],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3688],"class_list":["post-16519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-featured","category-headline","category-health","category-homepage","category-mainstream","tag-dubawa","tag-economic-and-financial-crimes-commission-efcc","tag-efcc","tag-elsa","tag-fact-check","tag-featured","tag-iriodalo-emmanuel-obhafuoso","tag-lutron-medical-centre","tag-nigeria-twitter-swindler","tag-nigerias-twitter-swindler","tag-odalo","tag-romance-scammer","tag-simbiat-bakare","tag-x"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-4ir","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3688,"user_id":131,"is_guest":0,"slug":"simbiat","display_name":"Simbiat Bakare","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb274e26ec2438c1ffa80c743780ac9034a44b76786647c5d47675222fdb1c63?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Bakare","first_name":"Simbiat","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Nigerias-Twitter-swindler-Iriodalo-Emmanuel-Obhafuoso.jpg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16546,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions\/16546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=16519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Romance Scam: The beginning of billing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was in my DM too\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Diving deep<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Forensic Analysis of Odalo\u2019s \u201cEchocardiography Report\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Odalo\u2019s action is romance fraud, and here\u2019s why<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Amidst the mask and lies, who is Odalo?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Moving on\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n