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Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:47 pm
by wayne
Thanks to Luan for bringing this to my attention :)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_nig ... eriuLZn414
LAGOS (Reuters) – A Nigerian undergraduate has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for obtaining $47,000 (33,382 pounds) from an Australian woman by convincing her over the Internet that he was 57 years old, white, and madly in love with her.

Lawal Adekunle Nurudeen met his victim on the Internet in 2007 and convinced her that he was a British widower called Benson Lawson. He said he was an engineer working in Lagos whose wife and only child had been killed in a car accident.

"The victim, a 56-year-old woman from Australia, told the convict that she wanted a husband and all the men she had met always disappointed her," said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria's anti-corruption police.

"The convict, who is married with three children, instantly replied and told the victim she had met her Mr Right ... He sent the picture of a white man to foreclose any suspicions."

The woman sent Nurudeen money for medical treatment and travel costs to visit Australia. He spent the funds on two plots of land and a Honda Prelude car.

Nigerian confidence tricksters have a long history of extorting money via the Internet through "419" scams, named after the clause that outlaws them in Nigeria's penal code. Many are never caught.

The EFCC said Nurudeen was ordered to pay around $10,000 immediately and a further $250 a month to his victim until the full amount stolen was returned. She would also receive the proceeds of the sale of his land and car.

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:57 pm
by salem24
:applause: If only the rest of us could be so lucky to have our scammers caught and jailed.

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:05 pm
by sanneb
I think this is awesome. It's a start. That's what it takes to get anything in motion is a starting point.

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:35 am
by FrumpyBB
Yeah :) it´s also in the Yahoo news. Now imagine "Dr. Matins Cole" coming to his lad cafe night shift and being greeted with this piece of information next to his login :twisted:

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:43 am
by Pinky
Please forgive my cynicism but I think we need to question what's in this for the EFCC or the Nigerian government. Surely this is the first, and maybe could be the last, love scammer to be prosecuted and imprisoned unless there were extensive publicity and/or pressure for them to do so.

From what I understand of the world the scammers live in, this guy is probably just a scapegoat to pacify some screaming westerners who brought political pressure to bear upon the EFCC. Even still they wouldn't be inclined to move against a love scammer unless there were global publicity and government funding for the cause.

I even suspect that the victim could be asked to pay court costs and recovery fees in hopes of getting her money. If she sees one penny in return, I'll marry the next Nigerian who proposes to me. (I'm pretty sure I'm safe on that bet.)

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:52 am
by FrumpyBB
Yes,seems not unlikely :(

However, I think this is a victory to a certain extent, indirectly : No doubt this trial has made many medias write about the existence of online love scams and who are the persons often behind them. This is right another time the subject matter is being featured in the mass media and papers and helps a lot to create public awareness.

Now the next step for people is to use Google....

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:33 am
by wayne
I don't doubt this is some low level lad the EFCC dragged into court to pretend it's doing something. Maybe there was a film crew there filming it. But publicity is publicity. If it makes people aware of love scams then it's a good thing, no matter what the story behind it is.

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:20 pm
by PaddyFields
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
A 22-year old up-coming actor, Christian Duru has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court presided over by Justice M.O Obadina for offences bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, unlawful possession of scam mails and credit cards.Delivering judgment last Thursday, March 12,2009, Justice Obadina found the accused guilty of attempting to obtain the sum of $900 from one James Cockrum, an American.



The road to prison for Duru who claimed to be a movie actor, started last year when some group of people petitioned EFCC that De Unique Cyber café located at Ire Akari Estate Road, Iyana Isolo, Lagos had become the haven of fraudsters and that their activities were disturbing the peace of the area. Based on the petition, operatives of EFCC swooped on the Cyber café, and Duru was caught sending scam mails.

He was consequently arrested and during interrogation, he confessed that he was using stolen credit cards from the internet to pay and advertise puppies in international Newspapers like Washington City Paper and Newsday. Indeed, he was nabbed while attempting to use a fake name, Jane Cocher to dupe one Elaine Adams, an American who sells puppies. His sentence takes effect from August 2008 when he was arrested.
Christian Duru, sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court, Lagos.
Image

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:27 pm
by PaddyFields
Mr. Lawal Adekunle Nurudeen, the UniLag student convicted over love scam.



Image

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:56 am
by COURINGTON
it certainly is a start!! i turned all my scammers information to them so we will see if i get a response of any kind!! maybe if everyone bombarded them with their information they would be forced to do something and put a stop to all these scammers!!

Re: Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:37 pm
by Bee_1
Hello, one year later...
I just looked up the address of Queensland Police, sucsessful Superintendent Brian Hay, Fraud and Corporate Crime Group and sent a facsimile to: 0061732362359
with the latest IP 111.67.12.76
which goes to Melbourne, Victoria State, because Michael Cole alias Joels Brown alias MrPetterson100 / Joel Petterson does have accomplices at a place named Rochester. So I asked for possibilities to get informations about these persons. I will post it into the other thread Joels_Brown247.

Re: Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:28 am
by cobrawoman
I agree with Pinky

Nigerian Government :liar: just as crooked. I feel that's a good idea for everyone to send their information to them just to see what they would do Can you imagine with all the information this site has? :mrgreen: I think it's worth a try, what do we have to lose?

How can any person with a conscience do something like this? My point exactly they have no conscience I believe they are all sociopaths. :applause: But this is good new's to hear!

Cobra Woman

Re: Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 1:04 am
by Ralph Warner
what do we have to lose?
Time that may be spent in ways that are more likely to make a difference ;)

The Nigerian government dont appear to do too much to stop these scams and from an outsider's point of view it is hard to imagine why they would, scamming is a multi billion dollar industry and Nigeria has the overwhelming market share in that industry, it would be like the French stopping the export of wine, the Swiss not exporting watches, Australia not exporting sheep or the Russians not exporting vodka.

Of course they need to appear to be doing something because of international pressure but the effort they make is a token effort at best, that said, the much overwhelmed EFCC does take their job seriously however they are extremely under resourced, if the EFCC received reports about every scammer it would most likely further slow them down with administration

Re: Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 1:16 am
by duckhunter
Hi cobrawoman....love your av.

Yes, it's true that the little scammer bois in Nigeria look up to their own their own leaders as mentors in crime. The govt there reminds me an awful lot of the mafia...they make a killing on scam so they aren't about to do anything about it unless something happens that forces them to do so.


Ralph, now you're doing it to me -- enjoy it cause it won't happen often :D

Re: Nigerian student gets 19 years' jail for love scam

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:02 am
by Take2
Hi,
Maybe I need to read the full stories, but how did these cases make it through? First, how were they ever able to catch the "right" perpetrator given our whole obstacle is the anonymity and nearly impossible means to track the source. Second, why was the evidence in these cases sufficient to convict the lowlife?
I already understand about giving a little to make the masses happy, but wonder what particular about these 2 incidents manifested legal recourse?