Umar Yau, also known as "Snake," is a 25-year-old cybercrime suspect who was apprehended by the Bauchi State Police Command after a high-tech manhunt revealed his identity theft and internet fraud operations going back to 2019.  

The arrest followed a police petition filed by Mrs. Fatimah Faiz Ali Bawahab, an internet businesswoman, who claimed that her identity and photos were being used in online scams and continuous impersonation.  

According to reports, the scammer has been using phoney Facebook profiles and fictitious bank account information to trick unwary victims.

The first warning was raised in 2022 by a man named Nafiu Muhd, who was defrauded after sending money to a First Bank account under the name Hansatu Yau.  He was blacklisted after the transaction, raising suspicions of a well-known scam ring.  

When other people contacted Mrs. Bawahab in early 2023 to report being cheated by a Facebook account using her identity, the situation deteriorated.  

A pattern of coordinated fraud and impersonation was confirmed when payments were linked to the same Hansatu Yau bank account.  

Following directives from Bauchi State Commissioner of Police CP Sani-Omolori Aliyu, detectives from the CP Monitoring Unit began a covert, technology-driven probe.  The culprit was captured in the Yelwan Makaranta neighbourhood of Bauchi on June 5, 2025.

Source