A court in Mississippi condemned three Nigerians to 235 years in prison for conducting online scam (ηλεκτρονικές scams) that brought them tens of millions of dollars in profits.
Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30 years, was sentenced to 95 years imprisonment, while collaborators Rasaq Aderoju Raheem, 31 years at 115 years and Femi Alexander Mewase, 45 years, at 25 years. The judges found they found guilty of mail scam, identity theft, credit card fraud, and theft of state-owned property.
Ayelotan and Raheem were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering, which explains their biggest penalties. All three of them were members of a 21 gang who worked in Nigeria and the United States. Twelve of them have already admitted their guilt.
According to their testimonies, the gang has been operating since 2001 and ran various projects to deceive the public. One of these projects was the "romantic scams." Defendants found victims who felt lonely and persuaded them to pay for airfare, or medical expenses to meet. Of course no one showed up for the date…
Such scams seem to be impressively successful. Last year a British man was cheated and paid 150.000 dollars and a British lost 1,6 million dollars over a period of ten months.
The gang used Western Union and MoneyGram to get the money or sell goods bought with stolen credit and debit cards in countries that could be sold with much more money.
The group was arrested by South African police in a common business με τους ερευνητές εσωτερικής better safetyand US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the US Postal Inspection Service.
According to the International Police Organization (Interpol), West African fraudsters managed to make over $3 billion from online scams in the last three years. The international police said the reason why Nigeria is a hotbed of online crime is because of the low employment prospects in the country for computer specialists.
