INTERNET RAT: They conned an American lady, using marriage as bait
By Juliana Francis
Thursday, January 26, 2006

A joint effort by Nigeria and American authorities has ended the pranks of three Nigerian boys, who were defrauding Americans on the Internet.

The syndicate comprised Michael Evbowera, 21, Mark Paul Udoh 16 and William Emery, who allegedly swindled an American woman of 3000 dollars and a laptop computer.
Investigations between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have also revealed that the boys sent over one million fraudulent cheques and money orders to different people in the United States, for the shipment of goods.

Posing as a working class man looking for a potential wife, Emery surfed the net and found Shirley Garza. After chatting a couple of times with her, he had told her he loved her and proposed to marry her. Garza, said to be in her mid-30s was said to have fallen for the ruse. She started sending money whenever Emery asked for assistance as an expression of her love.

The scales, however, fell off her eyes when Emery asked her to send a laptop to him. He promised to send her money for it. He further instructed her to write Adesola Joseph as the sender. When she asked him why Adesola, he reportedly said: " Courier companies no longer send goods bearing foreign names to the owners."

Thinking she was dealing with a genuine person, Garza sent the laptop but she later discovered that the information on the credit card he sent her was forged. Suspecting foul play, she ran to the FBI in Louisville, Kentucky and they contacted those in Nigeria. Soon the story got to Mr. Mark, the legal attaché of the United States consulate in Lagos. Mark alerted EFCC, which immediately started investigation. Garza was instructed by the agencies to play along with the fraudsters.

Daily Sun gathered that for three weeks after the laptop arrived Nigeria, the smart alecs didn’t surface to pick it. And for those three weeks, operatives lay in wait, knowing it was only a matter of time.
Trying to make sure they had not been discovered, Emery called Garza.
A source said: " He told her that he heard policemen were at the courier company, that maybe she alerted them. She denied it. He later went with Mark Paul Udoh to collect the laptop. They were arrested as they were collecting it."

EFCC had since searched their home and discovered that the three youngsters live together. Recovered from them were countless numbers of fake cheques, postal orders and money orders. The boys have admitted contributing money each to purchase the fake cheques and money orders. Emery contributed N8000, Mark Paul Udoh N2000 and Michael N3000. They further said that the seller was one Mike, a Ghanaian, they met on line. Whenever they needed the cheque or money order, they would all meet at a designated place in Sango Ota, in Ogun State.