With a social media profile that presented him as an American doctor, the 70-year-old Greek Cypriot woman was introduced to the Nigerian man, who was found to reside in the occupied territories, and after making her trust him, he deceived her by extracting 5 thousand euros.
Apparently, the two, who met over the internet, were in constant communication and developed a good relationship, with the result that the 70-year-old woman trusted him and sent him the money on three separate occasions. He told her that he needed the money for some obligations he had and that when he closed his affairs he would come to Cyprus to find her.
His last attempt to extort money from her was the one that exposed the scam.
As reported in a previous Cyprus Times article, the 70-year-old complainant reported to Limassol CID, that the Nigerian, under various pretexts, managed to extort from her, on three occasions, a sum of money totalling €5,000. According to the complainant, she initially sent the unknown person, through two bank transfers to a foreign bank, a sum of money totalling €1,500, while she then handed over a sum of money totalling €3,500 to a man, indicated to her by the unknown person, whom she met in a parking lot in Limassol on 28 June 2022.
As investigations revealed, the man who handed over the money was a 30-year-old Greek Cypriot, whom the complainant did not know.
The last encounter revealed the scam
But the Nigerian did not stop there. He demanded more money from the 70-year-old woman.
[/P]The complaint to the police was made when a relative suspected that the 70-year-old woman may have been defrauded. Following the complaint, members of the police placed a parking lot in Limassol under surveillance
, where a new meeting had been arranged between the complainant and the 30-year-old, whom the Nigerian had indicated to her as a person of trust to hand over the money.
It was found to bea 30-year-old resident of Nicosia, with tests confirming that it is the same person who received the money from the complainant on June 28. As police investigations continued, evidence was also obtained against his 51-year-old mother.
The 51-year-old woman admitted that she was acting on behalf of the Nigerian who is a friend of hers and whom she met in the occupied territories and delivered to him the sums of money that her 30-year-old son had received from the complainant.
Arrest warrants were issued against the 30-year-old and the 51-year-old, pursuant to which they were arrested and placed under a 5-day detention to facilitate interrogations, while efforts
are also being made through the Bicommunal Technical Committee on Crime, to identify the Nigerian allegedly behind the fraud.
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