A 28-year-old Nigerian man based in Toronto, Canada, Chimezie Nwabueze, has been charged with defrauding two victims of more than $600,000 in an online romance scam.
According to a Peel Regional Police (PRP) report, Nwabueze was in a purported romantic relationship with the victims between June 2021 and July 2023.
The report also stated that the suspect fraudulently claimed to own an ‘Oil Rig’ in the Middle East and urgently needed money, promising repayment and an eventual meeting.
The PRP revealed that the suspect and the victims never met physically but communicated virtually before he ceased all communication with them after they confronted him.
The PRP said the suspect allegedly defrauded them of $610,382, which he had yet to refund before his arrest on Monday.
He has since been charged with one count each of uttering forged documents, laundering proceeds of crime, participating in activities of criminal organisation, and instructing commission of offence for criminal organisation, as well as two counts each of fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.
Nwabueze has since been released and is expected to appear in a Brampton court soon.
PRP believes that Nwabueze must have defrauded more than two victims as he’s accused of being “part of a larger criminal network that is targeting older adult dating websites for the purpose of exploiting its trusting or vulnerable clientele for the purpose of committing fraud.”
He had previously been arrested in November 2023 by PRP for using the “exact same method of operation.”
