Three Nigerians were sentenced to various jail sentences in Ireland for defrauding a 66-year-old woman of her €282,000 in life savings.
On Thursday, July 28, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court found and sentenced Omowale Owolabi, 31, Raak Sami Sadu, 32, and Samson Ajayi, 33.
According to IrishTimes, the group transferred about €250,000 of the victim’s money from Ireland to accounts connected to phony businesses established up in Turkey and Vietnam. The group is thought to have used the money to purchase goods to be shipped back to Nigeria where they were sold.
According to evidence presented in court, the woman first connected with Neil Turner in November 2019 through a dating website. The two started exchanging amorous texts, and garda downloaded more over 800 pages of messages.
Turner had commercial links with oil and gas off the coast of Cork, according to the fraudsters who told the woman using the false profile. He also disclosed to the woman that he would soon inherit a sizable sum of money.
He started pleading with the woman for cash to aid his business. She sent Turner the first of ten payments in November 2019. She gave the fake persona just over €254,000 over the course of six months.
Using the email addresses and bank account information, investigators located the three accused and visited their residences. Several laptops and cell phones were seized by the Garda, who also discovered the login and password for the Turner profile on the dating website on these gadgets.
Garda also seized a Mercedes automobile worth €16,000 and a Rolex timepiece Owolabi claimed he paid €25,000 for. According to an appraisal, the watch is worth €10,000.
Owolabi admitted to stealing, Sadu admitted to conspiring to commit fraud, and Ajayi admitted to three charges of money laundering.
Owolabi was given a prison term of three years and three months by Judge Martin Nolan. He gave Sadu a three-year prison term and a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Ajayi.