Two ‘yahoo boys’ get 28 years sentence for defrauding Vietnamese women of N47m
Two Nigerian men, Ihugba Augustine Chinonso and Onu Chinonso Peter, have been sentenced to 16 and 12 years in prison respectively for defrauding Vietnamese women they befriended online of more than $130,000 (about N47.5 million).
In the judgment delivered on Monday, Chinonso, 32, and Peter, 33, were found guilty of “appropriating property through swindling.”
Six of their Vietnamese accomplices were also sentenced to between eight and 20 years in jail on the same charges and for “forging seals and documents of agencies or organizations.”
In addition to the jail sentences, the defendants were required to return all the swindled money to their victims.
The Nigerian men had been accused of setting up fake accounts on social networks, promising to send the Vietnamese women they befriended cash and expensive gifts.
Their Vietnamese accomplices then pretended to be employees from delivery companies, customs officers or police officers and demanded that the women transfer delivery fees, customs fees or fines to their bank accounts.
After each successful scam, the Vietnamese accomplices got to keep 15-25 percent of the money, while the rest was sent to Chinonso.
The gang was busted after one of their victims, Chau, reported her case to the police in February 2016.
Chau said she was befriended by a foreigner claiming to be British on Facebook in January. The man promised to send her $100,000 in cash and other expensive gifts a month later.
In early February of same year, a woman claiming to be from a delivery company called Chau, asking her to pay a $1,200 delivery fee and a VND80 million ($3,500) customs fee for a gift from overseas, which she paid. The woman then claimed she had not received the money and had Chau send her another VND112 million.
When a man claiming to be an officer from Hanoi’s economic police told her to pay a VND200 million fine as her package contained a large amount of cash, Chau became suspicious and approached the municipal police for help.
