Police members attached to the Commercial Crime Investigation unit led a multidisciplinary operation on Tuesday 05 March 2024 which resulted in the arrest of a 42-year-old Nigerian National.
Reports suggested that the complainant, a Canadian citizen, reported a romance scam in 2022 in which she indicated that she met an unknown person on social media, known as Raymond Butler. The suspect befriended her and they started chatting via a known website and later privately. The digital relationship expanded to the extent that the suspect convinced the complainant to invest R24 million in a project abroad.
The investigating officer pursued the relevant information and ensured a break through when he arrested a 42-year-old Nigerian national at a premises in Charing Crescent, Parklands in Table View.
The suspect is expected to make a court appearance in the Cape Town Magistrates’ court once charged for fraud.
Women in particular are advised to remain vigilant not to fall prey to scammers who wants to enter their lives with the promise of love, to defraud them out of their money.
The following tips could help women identify possible dating scammers:
– They look and sound very caring and responsible
– They always come up with a business proposals
– They do not want their pictures to be taken
– They do not want to meet with you in a public place
– They always hide their identification documents
– They do not introduce you to their families
– They want to own everything in a relationship
– They do not take you to their real house
– They always come up with contradictory stories
