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in a “cruel” dating website scam, which targeted single
women looking for love online.
The victims were duped after they responded to the false
profile of an “attractive middle-aged man” on match.com
which sent messages, e-mails and texts of love and
“overblown affection”.
They then fell for the conman’s story that he was due to
receive a £100 million inheritance from his father but that it
was tied up by red tape in India.
Once the relationship had developed with the fake man,
normally called James Richards, the conspirators started
requesting cash.
At first the women were asked for a £700 legal fee by a fake
solicitor but then the sums requested rose to up to £100,000,
Winchester Crown Court heard.
The trial was told that vulnerable women were conned out of
£220,000, with one victim, Suzanne Hardman, handing over
£174,000.
Some realised it was a scam and did not hand over any
cash.
Following a three-week trial, Monty Emu, 28, of Frencham
Road, Southsea, Hampshire, and Adewunmi Nusi, 37, of
Bomford Close, Hermitage, Berkshire, were convicted of
money laundering.
At the start of the trial, Emmanuel Oko, 30, of Waverley
Grove, Southsea, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and
money laundering and Chukwuka Ugwu, 29, of Somers Road,
Southsea, admitted money laundering.
Oko, who was said by the judge to be at the centre of the
conspiracy, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for
the fraud and four years to run concurrently for the money
laundering offence.
Emu, who laundered about £55,000 during nine months, was
jailed for three and a half years, Ugwu was jailed for 46
weeks and Nusi was imprisoned for 18 months.
Sentencing the four men, Judge Susan Evans QC said: “This
was a highly sophisticated conspiracy to defraud, it preyed
on the trusting, the lonely and the emotionally vulnerable.
“The amount of planning was, in my view, substantial and
would have required a highly organised group of
individuals.”
She continued: “Some of those females that were targeted
were utterly taken in by this cruel scam and the
sophistication of the crime means it’s unsurprising that
some of them were taken in.
“The hurt and distress you caused them was enormous. It’s
not even about the loss of the money being at the forefront of
this, it’s about the emotional hurt you caused them.”
In a victim impact statement, Ms Hardman, from
Basingstoke, said that the fraud had led to her suffering
sleepless nights and not eating because of the stress and
that she had lost her self-respect.
She said: “From the day I reported the incident to the police, I
felt very vulnerable and sick to my stomach. As I look back, I
felt groomed and that is how I became a victim of this, I
wouldn’t want anyone else to be a victim of this type of
crime.
“I do feel a duty to warn others, women specifically, of this
type of theft over dating websites and the internet.
“The money itself was to act as a pension and to support my
family as I got old, one could say I have lost everything that I
had from a 28-year marriage.”
Sylvia Tai Sen Choy, who lost £11,300 to the scam, said that
she had been put on anti-depressants since falling victim
and at one point I was too frightened to answer the phone.
“All I wanted to do was meet someone so I wasn’t on my
own, it sickens me that there are people out there who want
to prey on people’s emotions.”
Michelle Sparham, who chose to read her victim statement to
the court, described how she now found it difficult to trust
and even speak to adults, leading her to suffer what she
described as a form of “selective mutism”, and said that the
fraud had affected her health.
Following the case, prosecutors said they will now pursue
those convicted to strip them of their ill-gotten gains.
In a statement, match.com said: “These verdicts show that
scammers do get caught, though that’s no consolation for
those they exploited.
“Unfortunately, there is a tiny minority of people out there
who want to exploit others over the internet. We advise
people to use the same common sense as they would if they
were meeting someone in a bar or a pub.
“We give lots of safe-dating advice on our site and in emails
to members. This makes it clear that you should never send
money to anyone you meet online.”
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