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Queenslanders hand over 1m a month to Nigerians (Read 269 times)
abu_rashid
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Queenslanders hand over 1m a month to Nigerians
Mar 30th, 2010 at 1:37pm
 
Photo finish for Nigerian scammer

DANIEL HURST
March 30, 2010 - 5:48AM


Fraud victim 'Ann' receives a cheque from Detective Inspector Brian Hay for a quarter of the money she lost in a Nigerian love scam.

Fraud victim 'Ann' receives a cheque from Detective Inspector Brian Hay for a quarter of the money she lost in a Nigerian love scam. Photo: Daniel Hurst

A Gold Coast divorcee who sent $45,000 to a Nigerian scammer only realised she had been defrauded when her son performed an internet search and found evidence the man was a fake.

The romance scam victim, 56, told her story to the media yesterday as Queensland police handed over a cheque for one-quarter of the money she lost during the two-year online relationship.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group, said Nigerian authorities had seized the 25-year-old university student scammer's assets and passed on cash to the victim in an Australian first.

The partial-reimbursement comes a year after the man was found guilty by a Nigerian court and sentenced to 19 years in jail.

Victim Ann, who did not want her surname to be published, said she was embarrassed that she had been duped but the man had been "very professional".

The scammer posed as a middle-aged British businessman but also sent emails purporting to be from his boss, a travel agent, a police officer and another man.

He referred her to a website for his supposed employer which contained his name.

The man claimed to have been involved in a car crash and required money for medical expenses, but the deception was exposed when he sent her a picture of the accident scene.

Ann's son found that the image - sourced from a real BMW crash in Europe - did not match the man's story.

"I just needed company ... he really made me believe," Ann said.

Detective Superintendent Hay said Ann was lucky and most scam victims never saw a penny back.

"It's the first time in Australia we were actually able to provide money back to a victim of fraud that was perpetrated by offenders based in Nigeria," he said.

"This is not a normal story. The reality is that if anyone sends money ... they will not recover funds or see the offender arrested."

The money was recovered by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission.

Queensland police worked with the organisation, as well as the Nigerian High Commission, to track down the offender.

Superintendent Hay said he hoped the tough sentence would act as a deterrent amid fears more Australians will fall victim as more internet access is rolled out through Nigeria.

"Romance scams have exploded 1000 per cent over the last three years," he said.

"Queenslanders are now sending between $800,000 and $1 million a month to Nigeria, and unfortunately the vast majority is victims' money."

Source: Brisbane Times

Sprint aren't you in Queensland? If so I'm in Nigeria, and need a loan  Grin
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