- The scammers who duped a woman of £697,000 (approximately N1.3bn) have been identified as Nigerians
- A woman from France lost her life savings after the scammer posed as Hollywood actor Brad Pitt and tricked the woman into sending the sum of money for a cancer treatment
- Details about how the scammers were traced to Nigeria have emerged, with a hint at their next move
The internet fraudsters involved in duping a French woman named Anne have been identified as Nigerians.
The 53-year-old woman was tricked into sending £697,000 (approximately N1.3bn at the time of the scam) to someone pretending to be Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.
Source: UGC
She was deceived by AI-generated images of the actor and messages from the actor’s alleged mother, leading to the loss of N1.3bn allegedly sent for the superstar’s supposed cancer treatment.
A report revealed that Anne’s lawyer, Laurene Hanna, said her client lost 830,000 euros ($850,000) to the scammers.
How scammers were traced to Nigeria
In an update by Daily Mail, the woman engaged the services of Marwan Ouarab, founder of the site Find My Scammer, to find the person responsible for scamming her out of N1.3bn.
Ouarab gained access to the scammer’s phone by sending him a ‘booby-trapped link’ disguised in a message, a French outlet, 20 minutes, reported.
The scam investigator and his team uncovered the scammer’s identity and the address where he carries out his scams in Nigeria.
Ouarab said:
“It’s a small group of three or four fairly young people who are causing damage. On the fake Brad Pitt’s device alone, we counted 34 victims.”
Also, Mr Ouarab said the scammer is now pretending to be another popular Hollywood star, Keanu Reeves, to scam other victims out of a fortune.
He added that the Nigerian authorities had been contacted, and he had handed over his information to them.
However, when the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was contacted, it said it could only investigate the claim if a petition was submitted.
The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, told AFP:
“It is a petition that authorises the EFCC to act.”
Brad Pitt’s team reacts to scam
An agent for Brad Pitt told Entertainment Weekly that it was “awful” that scammers took advantage of the strong bond between fans and celebrities to dupe them.
The agent said:
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities but this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.”
In a related story, scammers stole N10 billion when they hacked a Nigerian bank, which resulted in the freezing of 818 bank accounts.
American woman recounts experience with yahoo boys
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that an American woman has recounted her experience with two Nigerian internet fraudsters, known as “Yahoo boys,”
She revealed how they duped her of significant sums in romance scams.
In a viral video, she detailed her encounters, revealing how the scammers manipulated her emotions and finances.
Proofreading by James, Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
