RRS Nabs Two Over Model Recruitment Scam

Two suspects who have been posing on social media as models recruiting agents, luring young models to hotels and bars and dispossessing them of money and personal belonging, have been arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad, RRS.

The suspects, Stanley Odachi, 27 and Chuks Oragwu, 31 were arrested recently while they were luring another victim to a hotel in Igando, Alimosho, Lagos.

As at the time of their arrest on Wednesday, about five girls have registered their complaints with the Decoy Team of the RRS that the suspects absconded with their mobile phones and money under the pretext of registering them for modeling jobs.

About four other young models refused to press charges. Two other victims stated that they were having an examination in school and could not make a formal complaint.

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All the suspects, who are still in and out of school stated that they encountered the suspects on Instagram through the advertisements on their handles requesting young models to enlist with their agency for a modelling contract.

The victims added that they were subsequently asked to report at hotels, where they were made to surrender their mobile phones, which the suspects escaped with.

According to one of the victims, who wants to be identified as Betty, she saw an advertisement on benitamodellers, an Instagram handle managed by Chuks Oragwu, requesting for models to register with them for a contract.

“I sent a friend request to him. We got chatting. Eventually, my friend and I were asked to show up at a shopping complex opposite the International Trade Fair Complex, Lagos – Badagry Expressway. We were four girls in attendance.

“This one, pointing to Oragwu, conned us into surrendering our mobile phones after making us fill a form and our measurement taken. He took pictures of each of us with our phones. He told us he was taking the photos to his boss upstairs. That was the last we saw of him.”

Another victim, an undergraduate of a prominent private university based in Ibadan, who could not visit Lagos because of her classes stated that, apart from her iPhone, the two suspects, who acted as manager and personal assistant collected N50,000 from her when she visited them at their hotel in Igando, Lagos.