Web scam nets thousands for African conman

 

Shane Symington

 

Published Date: 

15 January 2009

By Gareth Bethell

 

A MAN was cheated out of more than £130,000 when he fell for a woman in an internet chatroom – who turned out to be a Nigerian conman.

Shane Symington handed over thousands of pounds thinking he was helping the ‘woman’s’ sick mother.

The 32-year-old, from Southsea, was then tricked out of even more cash when he received e-mails from men claiming to be FBI agents.

They said he had been conned by the woman and that they would take on his case if he would fund their trip to Nigeria, and any subsequent costs they incurred, which the man agreed to.

Police say they have received a lack of support from the Nigerian authorities, and the money will probably be lost forever.

Detective Constable Jon Knox said: ‘This is a very sad situation, and this man has now parted with a huge sums of money through his own good nature – in trying to help others and then to recover some of what he had lost.’

Mr Symington told police he was first contacted by a woman in Nigeria via an internet chatroom in the summer of 2007.

The pair struck up a friendship and continued e-mailing each other. She then began asking for money to help her sick mother, which he sent over.

The ‘woman’ then claimed her mother had died and she needed cash to pay for her funeral, which he agreed to.

Mr Symington then received e-mails claiming to be from the FBI, saying the woman was in fact a Nigerian man who had been lying to obtain money.

The supposed FBI agents then said they would take on his case if he paid them. This went on for months before it transpired it was another con.

Police in Portsmouth are now warning people to remain vigilant when they are approached for money over the internet, or via their emails.

Det Con Knox added: ‘We do not want anyone else to fall foul of this kind of shocking activity, and I would warn anyone who is asked for money over the internet by people they do not know to refuse.’

 

Postman loses £130,000 savings to Nigerian internet scam after being duped by a friend he met on MySpace

A postman told today how he sank into depression and debt after losing £130,000 in an internet scam involving Nigerian fraudsters.

 

Shane Symington described how an apparently innocent friendship that he formed with an American woman through the MySpace website turned into a ‘nightmare’ as he started handing over money.

 

The 32-year-old said he was friends with the woman for several weeks in the spring of 2007 before she suddenly started asking for money to pay for her mother’s funeral and medical expenses.

 

He said the requests then carried on for money to pay for legal fees so that the woman, who called herself Angela Gates, could free up land that she had inherited apparently worth $2million.

The requests continued throughout the year and, by last year, Mr Symington had handed over his bank details and more than £100,000.

 

He said that he became suspicious when the woman stopped communicating with him and contacted what he thought was a website run by the FBI in America but which turned out to be another scam.

 

Mr Symington, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, said he then got a text message from his ‘friend’ Angela who revealed that it was all a fraud.

 

‘It said that it was all false and that Angela was actually a man from Nigeria’, Mr Symington said.

 

‘I guess he came clean because he thought he had taken all the money he could.’

 

But his problems did not end there as he was then contacted by another woman, again from America, claiming she had also been caught in the scam.

 

He said that he then helped pay her legal expenses and the cost of hiring two ex-FBI agents in an attempt to regain the lost money for both of them.

 

Mr Symington said that he now believes that these people are also involved in the scam. He said that he had paid out more than £30,000 to them, bringing his total losses to more than £130,000.

 

He said: ‘I feel sick from it all, I feel disillusioned, they have just played on my good nature. I’ve lost my life-savings, I have two loans and credit card debts, I’m in huge debts because of all of this.

 

‘Before this happened, I used to go out every night, now I just stay in because I’ve lost all the self-confidence in my life and I don’t have the money to go out any more. I’ve also had five weeks off with depression from work.’

 

Warning others to be extremely careful before handing any money over to people they have met through the internet, he said: ‘It’s just wicked people getting everything they can get out of people.

 

‘You just can’t trust anyone on the internet. I want to warn people but I know I won’t be the last to fall for something like this.’

 

Detective Constable Jon Knox, of Hampshire Police, added: ‘This is a very sad situation, and this man has now parted with a huge sums of money through his own good nature – in trying to help others and then to recover some of what he had lost.

 

‘We do not want anyone else to fall foul of this kind of shocking activity and I would warn anyone who is asked for money over the internet by people they do not know to refuse and not put yourself at risk.’

 

A police spokeswoman added that there was little police could do to help Mr Symington get his money back.

 

She said: ‘The money cannot be recovered due to the current political situation in Nigeria, resulting in a lack of co-operation from the police in the country.’

Nigerian scam targets Lake Geneva woman

By KAYLA BUNGE
LAKE GENEVA — An overseas scam turned scary for a Lake Geneva woman.

A 49-year-old woman called police Dec. 20 after receiving a “death threat” call to her cell phone, according to a press release from the Lake Geneva Police Department. While she was telling a detective about the incident, she received another call, and the detective listened to the conversation, the release said.

The caller with a foreign accent told the woman that someone close to her had paid him $12,000 “to do the job.” He told the woman that if she paid him $6,000 he would not kill her and instead would give her the name of the person who wanted her killed, the release said.

He told the woman to check her e-mail for further instructions.

The woman and the detective checked the woman’s e-mail and found a message from “Don Kill,” the release said.

The e-mail instructed the woman to send $6,000 to an address in London. The e-mail also said the name of the person who wanted the woman killed would be sent via DHL or FedEx.

Police traced the cell phone call to Turkey or Nigeria and the e-mail to Nigeria, according to the release.

Lake Geneva police now believe the call and e-mail are the latest in a series of scams originating in Nigeria.

The incident marked the first appearance of this type of scam in the Lake Geneva area, according to the release.

People who receive similar phone calls or e-mails should immediately contact authorities, police said. People also may file a complaint with the Internet Fraud Complaint Center by going to www.ic3.gov.

Cybercrime:EFCC arraigns 58 suspects

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded yet another breakthrough in its resolve to check the incidencesof                                                                                                                                                                                                                             economic crimes in the country
It has arraigned fifty-eight (58) persons in connection with advance fee fraud before the Federal High Court in Kaduna presided over by Justice Shuabu Mohammed.
The suspects who were all male, according to a statement signed by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Bbafemi, were arrested in an operation tagged “Operation Cyber Storm1” carried out in the nation’s three geo- political zones of South West, South East and South-  South.
 The accused persons, according to Babafemi, include Kalu Agwara, Emejuru Prince Patrick, Mang Agbai Ude, Mukaila Aina, Maduka Nnamdi sStanley, Oti Gabriel Arinze, Precious Kalu, Onyekwelu Peter Ndigwe, Anan James, Okunwa Christian Udeh, Kazeem Adewale, Abiola Samson, Adigwe Ngozi, Okpere Pullen, James Momoh, Ese Irohoboinose, Yisa Adisa, Odion Kevin, Ojo Solomon Taiwo, Abiodun Bashorun, Churchill J. Essien, Adewunmi Aringbola, Sanusi O. Abdulwasiu, Babajide Lukman, Okeke Oscar Nkem, Elisha Osughe.
Others are, Olasaide Dare, Koiki W. Adewale, Adebowale Muyiwa, Akinde Samson, Imoh Idiong, Ezechukwu Samuel, Sagunwero Allen Ihama, Sunday Oladunjoye, Ubani Felix Uzor, Imonima Kingsley, Emeka Asoanya, Prince Onyechere, Hak Azu Kalu, Muyiwa Odusonya, Anthony Ugwude, Ibini Kayode, Balogun Otaigbe,Prince Iheoma Esionu,Nnachi Ephraim,Dadi Ike ,Chigozirim Nwafor, Adenuga Lateef Olatunji,Ekwebelem Promise, Sorunke Odunayo Smith,Obasi Nwankwo Irem,Presely Omorogbe, James Momoh,Oame Benjamin, Olumide Aluko, and Titus osita Okeke.
They  were cumulatively slammed with more than eighty-five count charge all predicated on internet related fraud, offences based on obtaining by false pretences between Wednesday and Friday last week.
Seven of the accused persons were arraigned on the ground of failure to obtain full particulars of customers, permission of their business premises for the commission of the offences and non- registration of their cyber cafes with the EFCC.                                                                
The offence attracts a term of not more than 20 years and not less than seven  years without an option of a fine if an accused is found guilty.
All the cases have been adjourned to different dates from Friday 5th November to Tuesday 16th  December, 2008 while the accused were ordered remanded in prison custody.