South African authorities have charged a Nigerian, Christiano Ogbeinfun, with fraud and money laundering allegedly executed through an online dating scam.
Mr Ogbeinfun, 48, appeared briefly in Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. His plea was, however, not taken.
South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, otherwise known as the Hawks, said that the Nigerian tricks his victims under the guise of being their lover, South African IOL reports.
The Hawks said it would investigate the South African victims who have allegedly been fleeced out of R1.4 million ($94,000).Hawks spokesperson, Philani Nkwalase, said: “Several South African, Swedish and American victims fell prey to the alleged scam.
“We’re working with different authorities and we will investigate the South African victims. There are a lot of victims who lost their money.”A total of R4.1million is estimated to have been lost by all his victims.
Ogbeinfun was arrested last Friday in a joint operation between the Hawks and the FBI.
Nkwalase said the suspect lured mostly US-based victims from dating site, Badoo, where he allegedly created the profile of a very wealthy person.
He added that when Ogbeinfun builds a level of trust with his victims, he tricks them to pay money into his account for supposed business transaction with the assurance that the money would be returned.
