Nigerians jailed in the UK for fraud

A Portsmouth court, sitting in Portsmouth, England, has sentenced some Nigerians and their accomplicies to prison on charges of fraud brought by the Hampshire Constabulary's Economic Crime Unit.

The convicts reportedly conned about 2000 people through email and phone scams between 2014 and 2016.  The Nigerians, who worked as a gang with the aid of some of white accomplices, used PayPal to recieve the funds they got from their fradulent activities.

The Economic Crime Unit, through their investigations, determined that PayPal saw a loss of £205,000 and customers and merchants lost £87,000.

"We believe the true extent of the fraud was not restricted to PayPal or the addresses identified and the overall gain to some of the defendents was likely much higher than the amounts identified," the crime unit stated in a statement.

During the raid, the 36-year-old gang leader chewed a USB data cord. This made it impossible for them to recover any data. The crime unit was only able to gather enough evidences through the vital information they acquired.

The gang, consisting of eight members within the ages of 27 and 40, all pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them.

The presiding judge, Judge Timothy Mousley QC, sentenced:

• 36-year-old Festus Emosivwe to 44 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
• 27-year-old Chloe Maylott to 16 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
• 31-year-old Charles Onowu to 43 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
• 30-year-old Victor Ngo to 43 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
• 35-year-old Adel Qadir to 29 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
• 37-year-old Molade Fasuyi to 24 months for committing fraud by false representation
• 40-year-old Olukayode Adepoju to 19 months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

The only gang member that wasn't jailed was 30-year-old Pinelopi Chatzikonstantinou, who was fined £1000 and also a £100 victim surcharge for conspiracy to convert criminal property.

During the court proceedings, the Judge stated that the impacts of their fradulent activities on their victims 'cannot be underestimated'. He also stated that most of their victims were retired people who feared they would be unable to get by financially.