EFCC arrests varsity dropout over $96,000 fraud

Lanre Adewole, Abuja – 23.11.2009
A former student of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Okoro Victor, alias Jerry Finger, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding foreigners to the tune of $96,607 through the internet.
The 23-year-old fraudster, who dropped out of the university in 2004 due to what he called “family issues,” was arrested by operatives of the commission in Benin City, Edo State, following a petition by a regional officer with Money gram, who suspected that a number of foreign ladies, who had been wiring money to the fraudster were victims of fraud.
The suspicion was triggered by a communication with one of the victims who told Money gram that she met the fraudster on the internet and she had been sending him money because he claimed he wanted to set up a business.
Subsequent investigations revealed that Victor was a serial marriage scammer, who had been fleecing his victims posing as Jerry Finger, a white British-American expatriate working in Nigeria.
Apart from sending photographs to his victims and promising them marriage, he would also tell them that he was in Nigeria to execute a project and then demand for money from them, with a promise to refund it when he was paid.
Before he was finally nabbed, a total of $96,607.95 had been remitted to him by many of his victims from the United States and Germany.
The suspect, who was arrested on October 23, had since been admitted to administrative bail, but would soon be charged to court.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has charged Nigerian youths to take up the gauntlet in the fight against corruption in the country.

War conman’s £100k from lonelyhearts

Amy Nelmes

A cruel conman posing as an Afghanistan war hero has swindled a fortune from scores of lonely women across Britain with invented tales of heroism.

The love-rat who poses as a US Special Forces officer called Captain Antonio Grosso targets ladies looking for love on the Friends Reunited dating website.

After months of online wooing with war tales, the trickster then gives his victims a sob story about his wife dying and his son being stricken with cancer – and asks for cash to help with bills.

Astonishingly, at least 20 women including an ex-police officer and a banker have sent a total of £100,000 without ever meeting “Captain Grosso”. And police hunting the rogue – whose photos are believed to be fake – say up to 150 women He so genuine said that have been duped.

One of “Grosso’s” trusting victims, a divorcee who handed over £72,000, told The People: “He seemed so genuine. I keep asking how I could have been so trusting.

“I would warn all women to be wary of these dating sites – you really have no idea who you are talking to.”

The trickster – believed to be the frontman for a sophisticated gang – tells the women his wife died in a car crash three years ago, leaving him to cope with their 15-year-old cancer-stricken son.

And he backs up his stories of military heroism with convincing emails which appear to be from America’s Department of the Army who deal with admin. The 49-yearold divorcee, who works in the financial sector and met the conman online in April last year, shortly after her divorce, said: “I spoke to him every night online for months and he said he loved me. We were going to get married. I felt devastated when he said his wife had died.”

The heartless scammer asked her to pay for his son’s hospital bill – initially £450. Over the next 12 months he continuously asked for more – even begging for £7,000 to pay off a loan to a friend.

She added: “The Army documents and email addresses seemed so authentic. I kept transferring cash thinking I would get it back when his problems were sorted.” And when she asked to visit him in Los Angeles, she was sent a fake document saying Capt Grosso had been granted a three-month vacation. But she couldn’t afford to go as she had given him all her savings.

She was shocked when police in Plymouth contacted her after an alert about unusual cash transfers.

Another woman was duped out of £25,000 for a downpayment on a house in Devon.

Detective Con Ken Ord said: “We think this is only the tip of the iceberg and there could be hundreds of innocent victims. “We believe this man has been working with a team. The email addresses are accessed by a group and we are looking at addresses in the UK, America, Holland, Italy, Canada and Nigeria.”

Andy Baker, managing director of the Friends Reunited Group, said: “We do our utmost to stop scams and provide clear dating safety advice. Our golden rule is never send money to someone you’ve only ever met on the internet.”

$2.5m scam: Varsity graduate bags 12-year jail term

10.11.2009

A graduate of Chemical Engineering from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nwanya Odichukwu, has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a federal high court in Enugu over offences relating to fraud and internet scam.

Operatives from the Enugu zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, on August 20, 2009, arrested Odichukwu at Logon Nigeria Multi Media Cybercafé located at Chime Avenue, New Haven, Enugu, during a raid. He was caught in the act sending scam mails.

Investigation shows that Odichukwu was soliciting information regarding details of unsuspecting victims’ financial status. A thorough search on him and his residence led to the recovery of a parcel containing an international cashier valued at $2 million, a Central Bank of Nigeria draft valued at $500,000 in the name of one Mr. B.R. Butler , a United Kingdom International Passport bearing the name of one Jackson Phillips Dennis as well as scanned U.S dollars documents.

The suspect was subsequently arraigned on a six-count charge for committing offences contrary to Section 5 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act No. 14 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.

Delivering his ruling on the matter, penultimate Friday, a copy of which was obtained, on Monday, Justice Abdu Kafarati sentenced Odichukwu to two years imprisonment on each count charge , bringing the total number of jail term to 12 years. The prison term is, however, to run concurrently.