3 Nigerians become first in Irish history to be charged over alleged ‘romance fraud’ scam

Three Nigerians, Rasak Sanni Sadu, Omawale Olamide Owalabi and Samson Ajayi, have become the first people in Irish’s history to be charged over an alleged ‘romance fraud’ scam.

The trio were arrested by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau in Dublin, Navan and Drogheda.

According to The Irish Sun, they were quizzed before being brought to Dublin District Court on Saturday morning charged with a series of suspected fraud offences.

The alleged offences are believed to have been committed between October 2019 and April of this year.

Sadu has been charged with the theft of €35,000 and two counts of money laundering. One of the money laundering charges relates to the alleged conversion of stolen property into a €25,000 Rolex watch.

The other two defendants have each been charged with three counts of money laundering.

The major probe — which also involves the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau — was launched in the summer after a complaint was made to cops by a Dublin woman.

The woman alleges she spent cash on an investment project in the Middle East that never existed after receiving correspondence on the dating website Plenty of Fish last year from a man claiming to be a US oil rig worker.

The trio, who had lived in Ireland for a number of years, were remanded in custody to appear in court at a later date.