Rebecca Ejifoma
The Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi-Lagos, has arrested 21-year-old Cynthia Chioma Atuonah, for alleged fraudulent conversion, stealing, and obtaining $220,000 by pretence from a German man.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the Commissioner of Police Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi in Lagos, SP Yitayo Johnson disclosed this in a statement issued yesterday.
The suspect, a 2019-graduate of Economics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) and also claimed to be a model and proprietress of a Massage Spa known as The-Chi-Place, was said to have lured the 50-year-old victim on Instagram by feigning romantic intentions towards him, thereby gaining the victims’ trust and goodwill.
According to the statement, Atuonah promised to marry the victim, invited him to Nigeria for visits on several occasions, and then convinced him to relocate permanently to Nigeria to live together as husband and wife.
“In a ploy to dispel suspicion, the victim was made to meet with Atuonah Chiomas’ parents at Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, where he received their blessings to marry their daughter,” the statement read in part.
Atuonah was also said to have convinced the victim to return to Germany to sell his house in Stuttgart and forward the proceeds of the sale, together with his pension and life savings, to her domiciliary account in Fidelity Bank Plc to buy a house in Nigeria where they would both live as husband and wife as well as to establish a joint business outfit as indicated in the bank transfer narration.
During the interview session, the suspect, an indigene of Anambra State, admitted in her statement that the German national did transfer the $220,000 to her account.
The proceeds were then used to buy a two-bedroom terrace apartment at Zara Estate, Ikota Villa, Lekki Phase II.
Some of the funds were sent to support her mother’s business and to pay her father’s medical bills.
As noted in the statement: “Efforts are ongoing to recover other proceeds of the crime while the Unit remains committed to diligently investigate and prosecute fraudsters out there damaging the country’s image. The suspect will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.”
