Nigerian Christiano Ogbeifun has been charged in South Africa with fraud and money laundering, executed through an online dating scam.
The 48 year-old Nigerian appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. But he was not asked to plead.
Hawks will investigate the South African victims who have allegedly been fleeced out of of R1.4million, about $94,000.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Philani Nkwalase said: “Several South African, Swedish and American victims fell prey to the alleged scam.
“We’re working with different authorities and we will investigate the South African victims. There are a lot of victims who lost their money.”
About R4.1million was estimated to have been lost by all his victims.
Ogbeinfun was arrested last Friday in a joint operation between the Hawks and the FBI.
“It is alleged that the suspect lured mostly US-based victims from a dating site,” said Nkwalase.
After building a certain level of trust the victims were tricked into paying money into the suspect’s business account in the belief that the money was going to be paid back.
