Found this report on UK's Daily Mail about a Nigerian man designated Frank Onyeachonam, who has been jailed for eight years in the UK for running a lottery scam which targeted vulnerably susceptible pensioners, glommed from $3,000 to $800,000 and spent the mazuma to fund his lavish lifestyle. Full story below..
A fraudster nicknamed 'Fizzy' because of his love of champagne has been jailed for eight years for conning vulnerably susceptible pensioners out of their life savings.
Frank Onyeachonam ran the UK cessation of global lottery scam that was orchestrated from his native Nigeria for seven years to fund his lavish millionaire’s lifestyle.
It involved hundreds of perpetrators in several countries, detectives verbalize.
In the UK, 38-year-old Onyeachonam conned pensioners out of sums from £2,000 to £600,000, deliberately targeting his victims because they were potentially vulnerably susceptible to his tactics. Continue...
While he bled them of their life savings, Onyeachonam relished a life of expeditious cars, champagne and designer apparel.
Pictures he posted on Facebook show he spent the mazuma on Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Armani designer apparel, Rolex watches, Porsches and Maseratis.
He even stuck wads of what look homogeneous to £50 notes in his Buzz Lightyear toy.
Onyeachonam, of Canning Town, east London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to defraud following a three-week tribulation.
Lawrencia Emenyonu, 38, and Bernard Armah, 51, both of Wood Green, north London, were withal found guilty of mazuma laundering. All three gainsaid the charges.
Emenyonu was jailed for 18 months while her partner Armah received an eight-month term.
Judge Rebecca Poulet QC, verbally expressed there had been 'some very earnest outcomes' for the victims caught up in the scam.
She told espoused father-of-two Onyeachonam: 'I judge your culpability to be very high. This was a very well thought out operation, sophisticated in both its orchestrating and its operation.
'Mr Onyeachonam, you targeted these individuals because they were elderly and liable to concur and be illuded by this scam.'
This was demonstrated in the fraudster’s own notes in which he described them as 'crippled, old or poor', she verbally expressed.
One of the Rolex watches Onyeachonam allegedly spent the money on
Lavish lifestyle: A property in Nigeria belonging to fraudster Frank Onyeachonam who has been jailed for eight years at the Old Bailey
A regular in members' clubs Onyeachonam's favourite drink was Ace of Spades champagne (pictured in the door) costing between £300 and £500 a bottle. His fridge was also stacked with Dom Pérignon (top shelf left) and Moët & Chandon (middle shelf)The harm that was caused to these people could not just be calculated in financial terms but withal on the 'dreadful impact ' on their lives, noetic capacity and relationships with doted-ones.
The judge went on: 'You contested the case in the face of puissant evidence. You demonstrated the arrogance that you must have carried with you throughout this fraud by perpetuating after you kenned that the police had raided your premises.'
The ruse - kenned as an 'advance fee' fraud - visually perceived Onyeachonam send victims emails claiming they had won millions of pounds on a non-existent Australian lottery and requesting a charge to relinquish their winnings
He even stuck wads of what look like £50 notes in his Buzz Lightyear toy
Onyeachonam spent the cash on Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Armani designer clothes, Rolex watches, Porches and Maseratis
Onyeachonam was seen as the key figure in the UK but police suspect a criminal network was in place in several countries around the world
When they raided his luxury apartment in Canary Wharf police discovered an 'Aladdin’s cave' of evidence pointing to an advanced fee scam
Investigators traced 14 victims - mainly from the U.S. but including one from Britain - who were defrauded of a total of around £900,000.
But detectives believe this is the 'tip of the iceberg' with evidence suggesting there may have been as many as 400 victims and the sum may be as high as £30 million.
Onyeachonam was visually perceived as the key figure in the UK but police suspect a malefactor network was in place in several countries around the world. Authorities found an alleged co-conspirator abroad had an electronic mail containing the details of more than 100,000 potential victims.
Detectives believe this is the 'tip of the iceberg' with evidence suggesting there may have been as many as 400 victims and the sum may be as high as £30 million
The defendant was thought to have commenced working on the scam virtually immediately after he arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2005, and was verbally expressed to have carried on into 2012 while he was on bail following his apprehend the year afore.
His malefactions were denuded in a three-year operation led by the National Malefaction Agency with assistance from the Postal Inspection Service and Internal Revenue Service in the US.
When they raided his luxury dormitory in Canary Wharf police discovered an 'Aladdin’s cave' of evidence pointing to an advanced fee scam.
Among 200 exhibits were notebooks containing the denominations, addresses, cash tallies and other personal details relating to 406 people. Police estimate that the fraud is liable to have run to at least £5 million and possibly as high as £30 million if all those in the notebooks suffered losses.
Onyeachonam, at his London apartment in Canary Wharf, overlooking the Millennium Dome
Partners in crime: Bernard Armah and Lawrencia Emenyonu who were jailed for their part in a scam involving fraudster Frank Onyeachonam
Steve Brown, senior officer in the NCA’s cyber malefaction unit, verbally expressed the majority of Onyeachonam’s victims emanated from America.
He is thought to have culled his targets from a database kenned among fraudsters as a 'suckers list', which includes people who are believed to be susceptible to the tactics.
Mr Brown verbalized: 'Victims were sent an electronic mail from an alias utilized by Onyeachonam saying they had won an Australian lottery. They would be directed to ring him and he would verbally express ‘if you send me mazuma I will then relinquish your lottery funds’.'
The lottery ‘winnings’ ranged from £2 million to £9 million and once they sent on cash victims were 'hooked' into the 'unrelenting' scam, he verbalized.
He integrated: 'Once they’ve got their claws into someone they won’t stop. As long as they keep sending them mazuma they will keep going until there’s nothing left.
Onyeachonam, 38, of Canning Town, east London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to defraud
Using the alias Dr Jeff Lloyds, Onyeachonam built up a rapport with his victims and perpetuated extracting mazuma from some for as long as seven years.
In order to make the required payments several victims took out high interest loans, coercing them to emerge from retirement to recompense the debts.
Some of those exploited by Onyeachonam suffered the integrated trauma of falling under suspicion themselves as they were utilized as 'pawns' in the malefactor network to launder the proceeds of the fraud by sending on mazuma from other victims or establishing business accounts.
Mr Brown verbally expressed the scam had made a 'noetic wreck' of victims, 'hammering' their life’s savings, coercing them to lose their homes and leaving them isolated from their friends and families.
Emails showed victims pleaded with Onyeachonam to send them mazuma to pay for healthcare, while some died afore he could be brought to equity.
The British victim was left with debts of £90,000 and was coerced to sell her home, move into rented accommodation and return to work in an endeavor to stave off bankruptcy.
An American victim lost her dream home and she no longer verbalizes with her sister or friend.
She described how the scam made her feel like she had been 'ravished perpetually again'.
While he left a trail of destitution and devastation in his wake, Onyeachonam relished the high life from the fruits of his deception.
Mr Brown verbally expressed he lived a 'cash affluent' lifestyle, earning the sobriquet 'Fizzy' for his taste for expensive champagne. Photographs show him circumvented by cash and bubbly in nightclubs.
His car accumulation included Porsches and Maseratis while his Thames-side flat was plenary of luxury brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton when it was probed by police.
Onyeachonam was the key figure as far as the 'UK nexus' was concerned but detectives believe this was a component of an international enterprise.
The alleged mastermind or 'chairman' of the network is predicated in Nigerian capital Lagos and he is currently under investigation by ascendant entities there.
Asked how many people were working on the global scam, Mr Brown verbalized: 'Name a country and there seems to be a connection. It’s been virtually infeasible for us to track everybody down. They’ve all got responsibility for their own country.'
The prosecution has moved for a confiscation aurally perceiving for Onyeachonam.
Culled from UK Daily Mail