Frank Onyeachonam, 38, of Canning Town, east London, ran the UK-end of a global scam that was orchestrated from his native Nigeria.

The Old Bailey heard how he extracted up to £600,000 from pensioners to fund a luxurious lifestyle.

He was jailed for eight years for charges of conspiracy to defraud.

The court heard how he deliberately targeted pensioners because they were potentially vulnerable to handover their life savings.


The conman had the nickname "Fizzy" because of all the champagne he drank

Proceeds from his con enabled Onyeachonam to buy a luxury flat in Canary Wharf with a view of The O2
The scam - known as an "advance fee" fraud - saw Onyeachonam send victims emails claiming they had won millions of pounds on a non-existent Australian lottery. He asked them to send him money so he could release their winnings.

Afterwards, the victims would then become hooked on the scam and made extra payments, which forced several victims to come out of retirement in order to pay back high-interest loans they had taken out to pay him.

Fourteen victims, mainly from the US but one from Britain, were found to have lost a total of about £900,000.


Money was found in his flat, described by police as an 'Aladdin's cave'
Emails showed victims pleaded with Onyeachonam to send them money to pay for healthcare, while some died before he could be brought to justice.

Some of those exploited by Onyeachonam were also investigated themselves after they were used as "pawns" to launder the proceeds of the fraud by sending on money from other victims or setting up business accounts.

When his luxury flat in Canary Wharf was raided, police discovered an "Aladdin's cave" of evidence, which included notebooks containing the names, addresses and cash tallies relating to 406 people.

If all of those in the notebooks suffered losses, the fraud is likely to have run to at least £5m and possibly as high as £30m.

Co-defendants Lawrencia Emenyonu, 38, and Bernard Armah, 51, both of Wood Green, north London, were found guilty of money laundering, and were jailed for 18 months and eight months respectively.

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.

The alleged mastermind or "chairman" of the network is based in Nigerian capital Lagos and is currently under investigation by authorities there.

Culled from BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28148071

BANS

See how Nigerians keep showing themselves for all the wrong reason, after you guys will be complaining how the world is against you.

serves him right..

Pray he rots in jail

....hunted

the only reason am blaming the guy is for his greediness, if na me i for wash my hand, go for deliverance and start a new life somewhere else. i also believe na him fellow go set am up because of jealousy, (no friend in the game )collecting is not a crime but excess is a disadvantage. thumbs up for him, e no easy. if u think say it easy make you try collect $1.

oooo

That's how they will start spending money as if we are not working, those girls aint helping ishs at all, they prefer to date a yahooboy than steady income earners.
All nairalanders yahooing or dating yahooboy, for the guys' you'll be busted soon and for the ladies, they will use you do juju last last ni.
Mtcheew

Ole!! Thief!!! Barawo!!!

Let him rot in jail.

Imagine stealing from old people..some people no get shame..

Hmmm, every evil doer certainly meets his or her doom someday.

Nigerians! Using their God given talents for the wrong purpose smh..

maga araputala this young dude........"evil that men do..................

THIS ONE NA REAL ALOBAM

HE SHOULD ROT IN JAIL...

AFTER STEALING MONEY, HE WILL NOW BE OPPRESSING THOSE OF US WORKING HARD AND HONESTLY WITH PORSCHE AND MAESERATI

THEY SHOULD DISVIRGIN HIM IN JAIL SEF

FYI BBC, the capital of Nigeria is not Lagos.

How do these wicked people sleep. Na wa o. It must be in the blood for anyone to do this without feeling bad. I hope they sell all those properties to compensate the victims. Stealing money from the elderly, especially what they worked for all their life is a curse

Frank ONYEACHONA ......hmmm name sounds familiar

Why give our dear nation a bad image?
He could have used that intelligence of his for something useful and productive

Onyeachonam-make person no find me.

Hmmmm
The prison is Ūя̲̅ newest "Aladdin's cave"
Go continue Ūя̲̅ Drinking lifestyle there!
Money Miss road!

Mega still dey pay??

Everyday for the thief, na one day be the owner

na because of dis kin i d i o t dem dey look us funny

This guy is my fellow Igbo man from Awka

Anambra Adigo Mma

Da G-C:
FYI BBC, the capital of Nigeria is not Lagos.

Don't mind those messed up journalists!

Na wa.I believe even those scammed should also be arrested.How people still fall for this conmen still baffles me especially greedy Americans.As for those E-thugs that want to start rushing to ask the question "why are they spoiling Nigeria image abroad?"I have this question also for you 'Does Nigeria still have a good name that one will spoil?'Virtually every Nigerian have their own share of corruption and way of spoiling the Nigerian image even internally.The way we all spoil it varies

Vivalavida99: See how Nigerians keep showing themselves for all the wrong reason, after you guys will be complaining how the world is against you.

How about the fact that this crime is thriving on the greed of western citizens? How on earth would a sane person take a loan to finance upfront payment for lottery proceeds processing? Would they have been given the loan if they didn't lie to the bank themselves?
It takes two to tango! But you see that this article deliberately refrained from dwelling on the folly of the victims as if "Fizzy" forced their hands.

Hustling don jam rock

Enyi a! How u come fvkup na! U no be naija guy again? Well, no worry we will pray for ur release soon.
The british did worst dan this to us, to my grandfather.
Their blood na pure water wia I dey!

1 out of every 4 Nigerian Youth is either a scammer or knows at least two people who are Scammers

-Fact pulled out of my behind

Patiently waiting for the tribal war to start........
@ d topic...let the dude rot in jail, not America jail, make dem send am down to kirikiri maximum prison asap.