4 Nigerians On The Run For Multi-Million Romance Scam In Canada

Four Nigerian Men resident in Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan Province, Canada have been declared wanted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for defrauding unsuspecting victims to the tune of $2million in online romance scams.

In January 2018, a Canadian had reported to the RCMP of an unauthorized fraudulent online transaction in his name. Following an investigation by the Saskatchewan Police, it was discovered that several other frauds with victims in Canada were linked to this particular case.

After an 18-month thorough investigation involving undercover operations, numerous interviews and juducial permits to investigate 50 Canadaian bank accounts, five individuals, all Nigerians, living in Regina at the time these crimes were committed were nailed.

One out of the five suspected criminals identified as Austin Newton (28) was arrested on January 15th, while four others are currently at large. They include Kelvin Awani (24), Jonah Eigbuluese (22), Joshua Ometie (25) and Clinton Newton (27).

According to the Saskatchewan police, they were astonished by the obvious authenticity of these online romances executed by these five young Nigerians and the amount of time and dedication they lavished on their victims.

The five men are part of a larger International criminal syndicate, responsible for hoodwinking unsuspecting victims of millions of dollars through a well-orchestrated online romance scams over the past two years.

Austin Newton, already in Police net, faces numerous fraud-related charges ranging from fraud, impersonation to possession of proceeds of crime which are against Section 380(1) and 354(1) of the Canadian Criminal Code respectively. He is billed to make his appearance at Regina Provincial Court next Tuesday.