A
Nigerian man, Adewale Adewole based in the UK, is now facing jail time after
admitting to four-count charges of fraud, Daily Mail reports.
The
married father of two allegedly scammed the women out of almost £100,000 after
pretending to be a Royal Marine on Match.com, named Timmy Francis, who owned an
orphanage in Africa. On one of his profiles, he had the nickname ‘Charismatic
Brit,’ and on the other, ‘To live and love.’ He claimed he was looking for
love.
Adewole
is said to have used a picture of an actual Royal Marine Commando called Joshua
McGowan, as his display picture.
Sources
say he told the women he had been robbed at his “orphanage,” and so they sent
him money and paid his bills. Unknown to them, Adewole was diverting the money
into his wife’s bank account. He also spent the money on expensive designer
clothes, iPads, and TVs.
Investigations
revealed that whenever he set up dates with the women, he would never show up.
Prosecutor,
Charlotte Brandon told the court.
“‘Adewale
told the women that on a trip to Africa, he was the victim of a crime and
needed money. The crime meant he could not access his own funds.
He
said they would get their money back and would be sent letters from the World
Health Organisation to show that he would be able to pay them.
These
letters were sent, but from an M30 Manchester postmark. He also sent them links
to websites which, when logging in with details he gave them, appeared to show
that he had a huge bank balance and would eventually be able to pay them back.
One
woman was asked to pay for a hotel for him.
When
she rang the number he gave her for the hotel, they also confirmed the
information and she agreed to pay it.
She
later received a cheque addressed to him for £35,000 to prove he had money, but
this was later discovered to be a stolen cheque forged in his own handwriting.
Over
a number of months, each woman transferred significant sums of money via bank
accounts and Western Union moneygrams and sent items to the defendant’s home
address.
They bought electronic items, took out credit cards and loans and bought clothes from Next.
They bought electronic items, took out credit cards and loans and bought clothes from Next.
When
police searched his house in 2012, they found a digital camera, which had been purchased
by one of his victims. It contained pictures of the accused, along with his
wife and children. They also found several SIM cards in his wallet, which
contained the women’s contact information.
He
was also in possession of two Blackberry phones which had three different
email accounts linked to the two Match.com accounts. In addition, £4,500 was
found under his bed. He was subsequently arrested.
However,
Adewale has denied the allegations, and has blamed the fraud on his flatmate
Samson Ajayi. He told police that Ajayi had told him to help him transfer money
to his relatives. He also claims that he vaguely remembers using match.com.
“The
fraud was Samson’s idea. I got involved because I had a few financial
difficulties at the time.
“I
did not speak with the complainants. I did not know money was being sent to
Nigeria but I knew it was being sent to my bank account and my wife’s bank
account.
“I
do not know where Samson is at the moment. He travels a lot. I have no idea
about the details of this fraud. I didn’t even know how many victims there
were.
“But
I pleaded guilty because if I had not let my bank account or flat be used,
these women would not have suffered in the way that they did.
“Samson
said he was expecting some money. He said he had no bank accounts to receive
the money so I wanted to help him. He was owing me rent at the time and this
was the only way he could pay me”, he said.
The
court hearings are still ongoing.
Daily Mail
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