Fraudster Frank
Onyeachonam who has been jailed for eight years after he conned
vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings with a bogus lottery
scam to fund his millionaire's lifestyle
Frank
Onyeachonam ran the UK end of global lottery scam that was orchestrated
from his native Nigeria for seven years to fund his lavish millionaire’s
lifestyle.
In the UK,
38-year-old Onyeachonam conned pensioners out of sums from £2,000 to
£600,000, deliberately targeting his victims because they were
potentially vulnerable to his tactics.
Ill-gotten
gains: Onyeachonam, of Canning Town, east London, had so much cash he
once spelled his name out in it and posted a picture of it on Facebook
While he bled them of their life savings, Onyeachonam enjoyed a life of fast cars, champagne and designer clothes.
Pictures he
posted on Facebook show he spent the cash on Gucci, Louis Vuitton and
Armani designer clothes, Rolex watches, Porsches and Maseratis.
He even stuck wads of what look like £50 notes in his Buzz Lightyear toy.
Onyeachonam, of
Canning Town, east London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of
conspiracy to defraud following a three-week trial.
Lawrencia
Emenyonu, 38, and Bernard Armah, 51, both of Wood Green, north London,
were also found guilty of money laundering. All three denied the
charges.
Emenyonu was jailed for 18 months while her partner Armah received an eight-month term.
One of the Rolex watches Onyeachonam spent his ill-gotten gains on
Lavish lifestyle: A property in Nigeria belonging to fraudster Frank
Onyeachonam who has been jailed for eight years at the Old Bailey
A regular in
members' clubs Onyeachonam's favourite drink was Ace of Spades champagne
(pictured in the door) costing between £300 and £500 a bottle. His
fridge was also stacked with Dom Pérignon (top shelf left) and Moët and
Chandon (middle shelf)
The harm that
was caused to these people could not just be calculated in financial
terms but also on the 'dreadful impact ' on their lives, mental capacity
and relationships with loved-ones.
The judge went
on: 'You contested the case in the face of powerful evidence. You
demonstrated the arrogance that you must have carried with you
throughout this fraud by continuing after you knew that the police had
raided your premises.'
The ruse -
known as an 'advance fee' fraud - saw Onyeachonam send victims emails
claiming they had won millions of pounds on a non-existent Australian
lottery and requesting a charge to release their winnings.
Onyeachonam spent the cash on Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Armani designer clothes, Rolex watches, Porches and Maseratis
When they
raided his luxury apartment in Canary Wharf police discovered an
'Aladdin’s cave' of evidence pointing to an advanced fee scam
Investigators traced 14 victims - mainly from the U.S. but including one
from Britain - who were defrauded of a total of around £900,000.
But detectives believe this is the 'tip of the iceberg' with evidence
suggesting there may have been as many as 400 victims and the sum may be
as high as £30 million.
Onyeachonam was seen as the key figure in the UK but police suspect a
criminal network was in place in several countries around the world.
Authorities found an alleged co-conspirator abroad had an email
containing the details of more than 100,000 potential victims.
Detectives believe this is the 'tip of the iceberg' with evidence
suggesting there may have been as many as 400 victims and the sum may be
as high as £30 million
The defendant was thought to have started working on the scam almost
immediately after he arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2005, and was
said to have carried on into 2012 while he was on bail following his
arrest the year before.
His crimes were uncovered in a three-year operation led by the National
Crime Agency with assistance from the Postal Inspection Service and
Internal Revenue Service in the US.
When they raided his luxury apartment in Canary Wharf police discovered
an 'Aladdin’s cave' of evidence pointing to an advanced fee scam.
Among 200 exhibits were notebooks containing the names, addresses, cash
tallies and other personal details relating to 406 people. Police
estimate that the fraud is likely to have run to at least £5 million and
possibly as high as £30 million if all those in the notebooks suffered
losses.
Onyeachonam, at his London apartment in Canary Wharf, overlooking the Millennium Dome
Partners in crime: Bernard Armah and Lawrencia Emenyonu who were jailed
for their part in a scam involving fraudster Frank Onyeachonam
Steve Brown, senior officer in the NCA’s cyber crime unit, said the majority of Onyeachonam’s victims were from America.
He is thought
to have selected his targets from a database known among fraudsters as a
'suckers list', which includes people who are believed to be
susceptible to the tactics.
Mr Brown said:
'Victims were sent an email from an alias used by Onyeachonam saying
they had won an Australian lottery. They would be directed to ring him
and he would say ‘if you send me money I will then release your lottery
funds’.'
The lottery
‘winnings’ ranged from £2 million to £9 million and once they sent on
cash victims were 'hooked' into the 'unrelenting' scam, he said.
He added: 'Once
they’ve got their claws into someone they won’t stop. As long as they
keep sending them money they will keep going until there’s nothing
left.'
Using the alias
Dr Jeff Lloyds, Onyeachonam built up a rapport with his victims and
continued extracting money from some for as long as seven years.
In order to
make the required payments several victims took out high interest loans,
forcing them to come out of retirement to repay the debts.
Some of those
exploited by Onyeachonam suffered the added trauma of falling under
suspicion themselves as they were used as 'pawns' in the criminal
network to launder the proceeds of the fraud by sending on money from
other victims or setting up business accounts.
Mr Brown said
the scam had made a 'mental wreck' of victims, 'hammering' their life’s
savings, forcing them to lose their homes and leaving them isolated from
their friends and families.
Emails showed
victims pleaded with Onyeachonam to send them money to pay for
healthcare, while some died before he could be brought to justice.
The British
victim was left with debts of £90,000 and was forced to sell her home,
move into rented accommodation and return to work in an attempt to stave
off bankruptcy.
An American victim lost her dream home and she no longer speaks to her sister or friend.
She described how the scam made her feel like she had been 'raped over and over again'.
While he left a
trail of destitution and devastation in his wake, Onyeachonam enjoyed
the high life from the fruits of his deception.
Mr Brown said
he lived a 'cash rich' lifestyle, earning the nickname 'Fizzy' for his
taste for expensive champagne. Photographs show him surrounded by cash
and bubbly in nightclubs.
His car
collection included Porsches and Maseratis while his Thames-side flat
was full of luxury brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton when it was
searched by police.
Onyeachonam was
the key figure as far as the 'UK nexus' was concerned but detectives
believe this was part of an international enterprise.
The alleged
mastermind or 'chairman' of the network is based in Nigerian capital
Lagos and he is currently under investigation by authorities there.
Asked how many
people were working on the global scam, Mr Brown said: 'Name a country
and there seems to be a connection. It’s been almost impossible for us
to track everybody down. They’ve all got responsibility for their own
country.'
The prosecution has moved for a confiscation hearing for Onyeachonam.dailymail
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