A 70-year old British woman, Christine Brown, in search of love has been swindled by a young Nigerian posing as John Barrowman, who claimed to be an American entrepreneur and cleared all her life savings in the process.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that so far, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has returned $26,000 USD to her being part of the money she lost to the online fraudster, Mr. Barrowman.
The Briton, Ms Brown, was defrauded of her life savings after she became emotionally linked with him. When she realized that she has been duped, she wrote a petition to the EFCC. The anti-graft operatives moved into action, eventually arrested the suspect and recovered the said amount, which they handed over to her as restitution on Monday, 28th August, 2023, at the Benin Zonal Command of the commission.
Brown expressed gratitude to the Commission for its efforts, which she said has brought some succour to her after losing her life’s savings to the fraudster.
Narrating her ordeal, Brown said she became a victim after she met a purported John Barrowman, an entertainer and citizen of America online.
Unknown to her, he was a fraudster. Brown said they became romantically involved, and the fraudster began to demand money, which she sent to him through wire transfers, Bitcoin, and gift cards.
The Zonal Commander, Kanu Idagu, said that the Commission will continue to carry out its duty for the benefit of the society as he handed over the recovered funds.
“We are doing a whole lot in ensuring that victims of fraud are restituted where possible, and we will continue to do more,” he said.
He warned the public to exercise caution in all of their online dealings as con artists scour the web in search of unsuspecting victims.