Love Scam: EFCC Returns $9,300 To Australian Victim

Love Scam: EFCC Returns $9,300 To Australian Victim
November 26, 2009 13:53
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has directed that Rosalind Sumner, an Australian victim of love scam be paid the sum of N514, 212.10 and another $5,900 recovered from a Nigerian fraudster.

The payment which is restitution is in fulfilment of a Lagos State High Court judgment of March 10, 2009, against Lawal Adewale Nurudeen, a graduate of the University of Lagos, who was prosecuted and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment by Hon. M. O. Obadina of the Lagos High Court.

Nurudeen was first arraigned on November 31, 2008, by the EFCC, on an 11-count charge bordering on Advance Fee Fraud. He had defrauded the Australian of the sum of $47, 816.93 in a romance scam.

The N514, 212.10, was recently recovered from the convict’s bank account in Sterling Bank while another sum of $5900 was recovered from his home.

The court, in its ruling, also directed that the balance of the money be recovered through the sale of his car, two plots of land and a monthly $250 which would be paid to the victim.

The Queensland Police, Australia, as well as the victim, have made requests for the recovered funds to be released to the latter in line with the judgment. In a letter to the Commission, the victim, Rosalind Sumner, commended the EFCC for the successful prosecution of the case.

Consequently, the anti-graft agency on Monday directed that all funds so far recovered from the convict totalling about $9,300 be handed over to the Australian Ambassador to Nigeria for onward delivery to the victim.

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.”