Scam: British court convicts Nigerian man over romantic fraud
Osagie Aigbonohan, a Nigerian man, was convicted by the Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom on Friday for his role in a romance scam in which he defrauded multiple women of thousands of pounds.
The National Crime Agency confirmed this in a statement released on Saturday.
The 40-year-old Nigerian was accused of contacting women online through dating and social media sites under various names, and of defrauding one woman of nearly £10,000 in one occasion (about N7.5million at the parallel market).
According to the statement, Aigbonohan adopted the alias ‘Tony Eden,’ after which he engaged in a ten-month online dating relationship with the victim in 2020, persuading her to provide him money to buy machinery for his foreign business.
The victim allegedly made nine transactions into various accounts controlled by the Nigerian under false identities, with the funds eventually being transferred to Aigbonohan’s personal account, which he utilized for daily expenses.
Aigbonohan’s phone data also revealed that he had received money from at least eight other victims and had communicated with a total of 670 people.
In July of 2021, he was arrested and a fake driver’s license was discovered on him. He had also overstayed his visa from two years ago, indicating that he had no legal right to be in the UK.
In July 2021, he was detained and a fake driver’s license was discovered on him. He also had no legal right to remain in the UK because he had overstayed his visa from two years prior.
Despite staying in Abbey Wood, London, records suggest that the Nigerian will spend the money of the victims in London, Manchester, and Glasgow.
On Friday, Aigbonohan was alleged to have appeared in Southwark Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. He will be held in detention until his sentencing on January 14, 2022, in the same court.
