EFCC arraigns 2 for €88,000 romance scam

http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2017/05/efcc-arraigns-2-for-e88000-romance-scam/

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday arraigned the duo of Ajani Isaac Adedotun, (a.k.a. Clara Williams and Lara Williams) and Adesina Segun Adedeji before Justice A.D. Oladimeji of the Osun State High Court sitting in Ede, on a 50-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence.

The petitioner alleged that the victim, M. Wassink, a Dutch citizen, was defrauded of over €88,000 in an Internet romance scam.

One of the counts reads: “Ajani Isaac Adedotun (a.k.a Clara Williams, Lara Williams) and Adesina Segun Adedeji, on or about the 5th day of March, 2014 at Ile Ife, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of €23,000 through Adesina Segun Adedeji’s Skye Bank account from M. Wassink, under the false pretence that you are a female from Belgium and had travelled to Nigeria to buy some gemstones and bracelets and that the said sum of money represented fees for the officials securing the gemstones for you, which representation you knew to be false.”

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them.

In view of their pleas, the prosecuting counsel, Vera Agboje, asked the court for a trial date and prayed the court to remand the accused in prison custody.

 

However, counsel to the accused persons, Sanyaolu S. Akinyele and T. S. Adegboyega, respectively prayed the court to grant their clients bail.

Justice Oladimeji adjourned the case to May 16, 2017 for hearing of the bail applications and ordered the accused to be remanded in Ilesa prison custody.

Sweetheart Scam Victim: ‘I Feel So Powerless’

 

Sweetheart Scam Victim: ‘I Feel So Powerless’
DENVER (CBS4) – One Colorado woman learned a costly lesson in the search for love.

She trusted a man she met online and ended up losing more than $60,000. She is now hoping to help protect others from making the same mistake.

Law enforcement say the internet, along with many dating sites, make a “sweetheart scam” an easy crime. Online a person can pretend to be anybody they want to be.

The woman we will call Alexandria says she met her love online via Match. Another member approached her, saying he was in a relationship, but his boss wanted to meet her based on a profile that he saw.
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“Alexandria” (credit: CBS)

Alexandria does not want to be identified which is why we blurred her picture and changed her name. She says she fell in love over emails and phone calls with a man allegedly named Harry Kane. They talked and emailed for a few months while he was overseas for work. “I saw that he had a house here locally and I thought, wow, that’s too good to be true.”

It was, she says.

The Central Colorado woman says she is ashamed that she was bilked out of $62,000.
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(credit: CBS)

She never even met Kane. After a few months of the computer courtship, her online love told her they would meet once he got back from business in Africa. He claimed to have an elevator installation company. That is when the requests for money began.

“It started out with maybe $500 dollars and then he kept upping the ante,” she says. “Then a crane broke down and he needed me to send money to fix the crane, so he could finish the job, Alexandria explains. She says that phone call was a $17-thousand dollar request. “It kept building up more and more and more,” she adds about the money requests.
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(credit: CBS)

Alexandria eventually reported Kane to the FBI but she says the agency has not even returned her calls.

As for her money, it is still gone.

“I feel so powerless,” says Alexandria. “I feel so stupid.”
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(credit: CBS)

That is why she is sharing her story with CBS4. She hopes another person does not fall prey to the popular sweetheart and romance scams.

“I want to help protect other women so this doesn’t happen to them. It’s made my life miserable.”

Law enforcement say sweetheart scams are hard to prosecute because the suspects are usually impossible to find, many times located in other countries, which also makes it a jurisdictional nightmare to even try to prosecute if they are found.
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/06/23/sweetheart-scam-victim/

Nigerian man arrested for exporting $40million scam to the US

Lagos – Six U.S. citizens and a Nigerian national were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for their roles in online fraud schemes that distributed more than $40 million in counterfeit checks using “mystery shopper” websites and work-from-home scams.

The criminal enterprise was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Funso Hassan, 27, of Ibadan, Nigeria and Anthony Shane Jeffers, 44, of Maryville, Tennessee, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Ann Louise Franzen, 70, of Kiln, Mississippi; Gary Melvin Barnard, 64, of Palestine, Texas; Michele Gayle Fee, 55, of Stockton, California; Tanya Lynn Thomas, 52, of Turlock, California; and Shawn Ann White, 44, of Manteca, California, were each sentenced to five years in prison.

In addition to the prison sentences, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., of the Southern District of Mississippi sentenced each defendant to three years supervised release following completeion of their sentences. Restitution to the victims for all defendants will be determined at a later date. The sentences are the maximum statutory penalty for the charges to which the defendants pleaded.

All seven defendants were members of a large-scale international financial fraud conspiracy that included romance scams through online dating sites, check fraud, secret shopper schemes and personal assistant work-from-home schemes.

Some of the defendants started as romance scam victims only later becoming knowing participants in the counterfeit check fraud. Victims were sent checks with mystery shopper and personal assistant instructions. The checks, which were counterfeit, would bounce after the victims transmited  proceeds to various locations in the United States which were then layered for transmission to Nigeria.

Victims then owed their banks the amount of checks and often hundreds of dollars in bank fees

http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/nigerian-man-arrested-for-exporting-40million-scam-to-the-us-20160910