OSAIGBOVO: FRAUDSTERS POSED AS LOVESTRUCK SINGLETONS IN WORLDWIDE DATING SCAM

Fraudsters posed as lovestruck singletons to fleece gullible lonely hearts out of hundreds of thousands of pounds in a worldwide internet dating scam, a court heard.

Osaro Osaigbovo, 39, allegedly helped launder nearly £194,000 through his bank account after vulnerable victims were conned across the United States and Europe.

Gang members targeted subscribers to Match and Adult Friend Finder and requested wire transfers after courting them for several months and building a bogus online relationship.

The fraudsters would pose as doctors and solicitors and ask for large sums of cash to help with travel expenses or family affairs, Southwark Crown Court heard.

A woman from Florida was duped out of nearly £25,000 by a man claiming he was a Los Angeles based neurosurgeon who needed funds to sort out the affairs of his deceased business partner.

A Belgian man was then swindled out of over £320,000 by a woman posing as a lawyer who needed cash to travel across the continent.

The court heard just over £100,000 of the proceeds were transferred to Osaigbovo’s network of accounts.

His sister-in-law Telma Asemota, 30, allegedly helped launder the profits.

Danny Robinson, prosecuting, said the Nigerian pair took no part in the internet dating scam themselves but committed a raft of money laundering offences.

‘This case concerns the flow of large sums of money into the bank accounts of these two defendants.

‘There is no dispute that the money was proceeds of crime – in every case the money came from victims of a rather mean internet dating scam.

‘Victims, on the premise of forming a loving relationship, were targeted by fraudsters who had no such intention, sending their victims requests for cash, preying on the vulnerable and exploiting them ruthlessly’.

Mr Robinson added that although the fraudsters remain unidentified, the funds were traced to a UK bank account in the name of Monica Cabral, the then wife of Osaigbovo.

Jurors heard that although Ms Cabral has not been found by police, her Lloyds TSB account was in the full control of Osaigbovo.

Mr Robinson said most of the victims of the internet dating scam lived in the US or in Europe:

‘Lucy Cao from Florida, used Match.com, the internet dating site, and was introduced to a person she believed was called Anthony Miller.

‘She communicated with him on a daily basis via email and texts. He claimed to be a neurosurgeon from Colorado working in Los Angeles.

‘He said he would visit her in Tampa on his way back from a medical conference.

‘He then contacted her and said his business partner was unwell and that he had to visit him in Liverpool.

‘Anthony Miller then asked her for money on the premise that he needed money to sort out the affairs of his business partner he claimed had died.

‘The money was then transferred, the equivalent of £24,038.50, to the account of Monica Cabral’.

Jurors were told that Osaigbovo entered into a money laundering arrangement with the gang between December 2010 and August 2011. A total of £193,867.77 was paid into his account.

He then allegedly enlisted the help of Asemota into a separate money laundering operation, between June and July 2011.

‘We don’t say these two defendants were operators of the fraud, but without doubt we say that Mr Osaigbovo was among some of the recipients of the funds from Miss Cao’, Mr Robinson added.

‘Etienne Charlier, a Belgian national, paid just over £321,000 to a fraudster, and of that money just over £100,000 was transferred to Monica Cabral’s account, from where it was dispersed through Mr Osaigbovo’s network of accounts.

‘Mr Charlier began communicating with a woman calling herself Chloe Elsevier through Adultfriendfinder.com, who pretended to be a solicitor.

‘They communicated by email and she said she was travelling to Durham on business and told him she didn’t have enough money to return to Belgium.

‘He transferred money to her and then as time moved on requests for money became more frequent and greater in amount’.

Mr Robinson said when victims asked for some of their money back they would not hear from the fraudster again and be left out of pocket.

‘Barbara Liu from New York also emailed a man calling himself Anthony Miller via Match.com, transferring the US Dollar equivalent to £29,239.69 to Monica Cabral.

‘Annalinda Robertson transferred £5,949 an £3,032 to Monica Cabral’s account after speaking to a man calling himself Anthony Moore’.

Jurors were told once the funds arrived into the account controlled by Osaigbovo, the alleged launderer would move the money round some of his other accounts or withdraw cash.

He claims that all the funds arrived in his account as part of his legitimate Nigerian money transfer business.

‘By moving money from various accounts controlled through him, Mr Osaigbovo tried to disguise the origins of the money’, Mr Robinson said.

‘A total of £193,867.77 went into various bank accounts controlled by Mr Osaigbovo, over a four-month period between March and July 2011.

‘The prosecution do not say Mr Osaigbovo was one of the fraudsters who conducted the internet dating scam, nor that Ms Asemota was.

‘Our case is that these two defendants were use to launder proceeds from the scam, with funds paid into their bank accounts, before they were funds were withdrawn or transferred onwards’.

Osaigbovo and Asemota, both of (12) Tudor Close in Dartford, Kent, both deny entering into a money laundering arrangement.

Osaigbovo also denies a further charge of money laundering, and ten counts of acquiring criminal property.

Asemota denies a further five counts of acquiring criminal property.

The trial continues.
ends