Dating conman’s sports star scam to seduce women
‘Cynical and arrogant’
A FRAUDSTER posed as a basket- ball player and the brother of a Premier League footballer to seduce hundreds of women online and con them out of thousands.
Ivan Nkazi, 31, treated the scam as his full-time job and made a total of £24,000 from a string of victims.
He set up countless fake profiles on internet dating sites including Tinder and Plenty of Fish, using a picture of Serge Ibaka, who plays in the US National Basketball Association, to reel the women in.
Nkazi, himself a former professional footballer, also told a victim he was the brother of Liverpool FC player Sadio Mane. He used the fact he was a father to win the trust of victims, before eventually persuading them to send intimate photographs and arranging to meet. But on his way to their first date Nkazi would always encounter a problem – his car would break down or his bank cards would stop working. Initially, he used the excuses to persuade dates to hand over small amounts of cash, such as for fuel.
But Liverpool Crown Court heard that Nkazi would soon start demanding larger sums and turned nasty when they refused, threatening them with violence or humiliation by publishing their intimate images online. He told one victim she was a ‘dead girl walking’ and threatened to kill her father and throw acid in her face when she tried to cut contact.
He branded another woman a ‘slut’ and told her he would create a false escort profile in her name and put it online if she did not send him £400.
One victim was so frightened she pawned family jewellery and ended up in debt so she could hand over cash to Nkazi.
Last week the father-of-three from Liverpool was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to 11 counts of fraud and four of sending a malicious communication.
He admitted stealing almost £ 24,000 from 20 women between August 2017 and February this year, but police believe he duped many more as he had been operating for up to four years.
Nkazi, a French national of Congolese origin, was a talented footballer and came to the UK aged 16 after being offered a £2,000-a-week contract with Scottish Premiership side Hibernian FC.
But after the contract was cancelled he failed to curb his spending and fell into debt, setting up the ‘catfishing’ con – where crooks pretend to be someone else online – to pay for the lifestyle he had become accustomed to.
Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, said scamming the women was Nkazi’s ‘ full- time job,’ adding: ‘This was a business and a lucrative one.’
Judge Robert Trevor- Jones branded Nkazi a ‘cynical and arrogant’ fraudster.