A Nigerian national was sentenced in a federal court in Charlotte,NC for being part of a two-man team that bilked at least 18 people in the United States, Australia and Europe of more than $9.5 million.Ugochukwu Enwerem aka Joseph Smith (top photo) was sentenced to nine years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department announced. Following six days of trial and four hours of deliberation, Enwerem was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and 14 counts of wire fraud charged in a July 2007 indictment stemming from an "advance-fee" scheme. Enwerem faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy count and 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the 14 wire fraud counts.
Co-defendant Kent Oserumen Okojie (bottom photo) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud in September 2009 . Okojie is awaiting sentencing.
According to timesnews.net, one female victim from Pennsylvania - identified as EG - convinced that she had won $6.2 million in the "National UK Lottery", sent nearly $150,000 to the two men over an 18 month period.
"In one case, the government said, EG was asked to send $30,182.10 to a man in Spain to pay for a police report and an Anti-Terrorism Certificate. On another occasion, the government said, Okojie — posing as Paul Hamilton — convinced the woman to send $35,000 to pay European Union taxes."
Over the years, I've spent way too much time goofing on these types of scammers. Anyone who has read any of my posts dealing with these guys knows that most of them are not the among the sharpest knives in the kitchen drawer. I really have a hard time understanding how someone with enough sense to use a computer could fall for these schemes.
At any rate, that makes two down and countless more to go. I'll be saving the photos of Enwerem and Okojie..... they might come in handy whenever I have dealings with other Nigerian scammers.
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