A 60-year-old Swiss woman has been scammed out of £612,000 by two men pretending to be a doctor who was in love with her, a court heard.
The woman believed her online romance was with an English doctor living in London.
But she was actually communicating with James Olagbaiye, 47, and Adesola Adebayo, 38, flatmates from Newham, East London.
The pair sent her a photo of a fake British passport with an image of an older gentleman as part of the ruse, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The “doctor” claimed to have produced ventilation machines for the NHS to help in the fight against the Covid pandemic and sought the woman’s money as a loan for this venture.
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The “loan” was subsequently paid into different UK and USA-based money mule bank accounts under the defendants’ control.
The fake doctor also claimed he had been arrested overseas and required further financial support, all part of the con.
The victim only realised she had been scammed after being contacted by detectives following the arrest of the two men.
Pair jailed for combined nine years
The court heard that both men were part of an international organised crime group based in the UK and Nigeria who scammed multiple women and a man out of a total in excess of £674,000 by becoming romantically involved with them.
The team identified a further female victim from the USA, a man and two women from the UK.
Adebayo was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to launder money, fraud by false representation, and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Olagbaiye was jailed for four years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to launder money.
The pair were sentenced on October 14.
‘Think carefully before meeting demands for money’
The fraud was uncovered following the arrest of another man in August 2020. The men were arrested on Oct 29 2020. During their arrests, officers seized their mobile phones and bank statements which led them to identify further victims.
Later examination of the evidence revealed that Adebayo had also provided a safe address of a trusted associate, who would agree to receive mail, so bank accounts could be set up for the purpose of falsely claiming Covid bounce back loans.
Adebayo attempted to claim £98,000 but was not successful.
Detective Constable Chris Collins, of the Metropolitan Police, said: “These men have spun a web of lies to their victims and abused their honest intentions in the most awful way. I would ask anyone in an online relationship to think carefully before meeting demands for money no matter how heartfelt and convincing their story is.”
A confiscation investigation will follow convictions, where assets are sought in favour of returning some of the losses to the victims.
