A 75-year-old female Dutch national, Jeanet De Jonge, has lost €200,000 to a 31-year-old Nigerian, Michael Adio in a romance scam.
It was gathered that Adio, who had been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, pretended to be an American citizen, making it easy for Jonge to fall for him.
The EFCC, which described Adio as a confidence trickster, revealed that the man was an indigene of the Owu area of Ogun State.
Explaining how the suspect, perpetrated the act, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said the victim and the suspect met on a dating site and started a relationship.
Uwujaren said, “Adio met the victim on the ‘Net log’ dating site and pretended to be a 41-year-old American citizen working as a chef in a Nigerian restaurant and needed a wife.
“The profile attracted Jeanet (Jonge) and, in no time, began sending him money through Western Union and Money Gram.”
It was gathered that Adio had told his victim that he wanted to meet her, but needed funds to get documents and perfect his travel plans.
However, trouble was said to have started when Jonge did not see her hubby after sending money to him for almost two years.
Uwujaren said, “Investigations revealed that the suspect collected various sums under the pretext that he was going to use the money to perfect his travel plans and obtain the required documents that would enable him travel to Holland to join or visit Jeanet.
“His inability or refusal to honour the invitation from Jeanet made her to be suspicious and prompted her to petition the EFCC.”
Adio, in his statement to the EFCC, said, “She was sending me money monthly, ranging from $800 to $900 from June 2012 through Western Union Money transfer and Money Gram.
“There was a time the Western Union blocked her from sending money to me in Nigeria. So, she requested that I should go to London to enable her send me money there.
“I contacted a friend of mine in London, Osas Odiah, to receive the money and send to me here in Nigeria.
“She first sent €2,000 to my friend’s account in London, and later to my Keystone bank account, which was actually a Forex Trade account.
“We started using this account when we discovered that my friend was not remitting all the money sent by Jeanet (Jonge) to me.”
Uwujaren said the commission was still following up on some lead, adding that Adio would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation was concluded.
