Nigerian Man in UK Reportedly Scams Women of £100,000 After Posing as African Orphanage Owner on Match.com
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| Adewale Adewole |
Four women on Match.com thought they had
found Mr. Right. They gave him their hearts and money but all they got
was heartache and embarrassment in return, as they found out he was a
fraudster.
Adewale Adewole, 31, a
Nigerian man based in the UK, is allegedly the fraudulent heartbreaker.
He is now facing jail time after admitting to four 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 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. “
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.
Photo Credit: Daily Mail
