Nigerian love scammers charged
Pair allegedly recruited two Singaporean women to act as money mules in scam.
SINGAPORE: Two men were taken to court over their alleged roles in transnational Internet love scams committed between 2017 and last year.
In a statement on Monday evening, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said this was the first time that overseas-based suspects involved in the scams were arrested and sent to Singapore for prosecution.
Nigerians Oladayo Opeyemi Awolola, 34, and Gbolahan Ayobami Awolola, 37, were each charged with one count of abetting others to receive stolen property.
The pair, said to be part of an African syndicate, allegedly recruited two Singaporean women as money mules to receive criminal proceeds linked to the love scams.
The women allegedly received at least S$85,700 (RM261,335) from victims in Singapore before handing the cash to the syndicate members in Malaysia.
According to court documents, Oladayo Opeyemi Awolola allegedly engaged in a conspiracy with a woman identified as Suhaili Suparjo.
On Jan 18 last year, Suhaili is said to have received S$46,500 (RM141,797) from one Peng Guie, and she had reason to believe that the money was stolen property. Court documents did not reveal details about Suhaili.
Gbolahan Ayobami Awolola is said to have committed a similar offence in November 2017 when he allegedly engaged in a conspiracy with a woman identified as Norhafizah Samsudin.
Norhafizah, whose details were also not revealed in court documents, allegedly received S$32,900 (RM100,325) in her bank account and she had reason to believe that the money was stolen property.
In Monday’s statement, the SPF said investigators from Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department conducted a joint investigation with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysia Police and established the identities of the two Nigerians.
Malaysian police arrested the two men in Kuala Lumpur on April 16 and they were brought to Singapore on Monday.
The two Nigerians are now remanded at Central Police Division and will be back in court on May 21.
The SPF said there were 660 reported cases of cross-border Internet love scams last year where victims in Singapore were cheated of at least S$27.5mil (RM83.85mil).