Nigerian gets nine years for online dating fraud

A NIGERIAN national was jailed for nine years for his involvement in an online dating scam.

Muyiwa Obafeni appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg and was found guilty on nine fraud charges, and one of conspiracy to commit fraud.

On the conspiracy charge, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years.

The case arose from a Chinese man surfing the internet in search of an online friendship which, he hoped, would blossom into romance. The victim was conned of more than R22 000 as a result.

Defence attorney Howard Andrews said Obafeni wished, as an indication of remorse, to compensate the victim for his financial losses. However, the magistrate ruled that this was not true remorse, and that Obafeni wished to do so only now that he had been found guilty and was about to be sentenced.

Prosecutor Juan Agulhas said the case had involved considerable State resources. The magistrate said the victim had attended a school for special needs and was easily lured into scams of this kind. As a result, the victim had suffered financially and this had impacted on his integrity and sense of self-worth.

She said the victims were lured with online dating scams and this one was likely to have had an impact internationally. She said it had also damaged South Africa’s image. Obafeni allegedly created online profiles of wealthy people and groomed vulnerable victims before asking for money for false emergencies.

He was arrested in Maitland in April 2013 after a request for a payment into his personal account aroused suspicion.