Another alleged online dating scammer nabbed

A 54-year-old man has been arrested and appeared in the Alexandra Regional Court on Monday charged with fraud and extortion involving online dating scam allegations.

According to Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu, the man was arrested on Saturday by the Hawks after he was positively identified as a wanted suspect by authorities at OR Tambo International Airport.

The man was departing to Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for leisure.

“It was reported that in March 2020, Chinedu Jonathan Madueke introduced himself to the complainant on an online dating site as a female model from Italy named ‘Ruth’,” explained Mulamu.

The two seemingly hit it off and started dating, which resulted in an exchange of nude videos.

A few months later, the complainant alleged that Madueke allegedly demanded an enticement of approximately USD 500,000 from him to avoid his nude video from being leaked on social media.

The matter was reported to the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Johannesburg for investigation.

A warrant of arrest was issued for Madueke’s apprehension and authorities circulated him on the local and international boarder movement control system.

Madueke’s attempt to flee the country failed on Saturday subsequent to the system that alerted authorities of his outstanding warrant of arrest.

He was immediately detained to account for the alleged online dating scam which happened about two years ago.

During his first court appearance, he was remanded in custody pending an investigation. The case was postponed to Monday, 23 May 2022 for verification of his legal status in the country. 

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In March this year, the Hawks pounced on an apparent ‘Allen Grey’ who allegedly swindled R1.9 million from a potential partner looking for love online.

40-year-old Omotese Ebor, also known as ‘Tessy’, allegedly portrayed herself as a successful Western Cape-based businessman named Allen Grey looking for love on Facebook.

The victim, who wants to remain anonymous, told police that a few days into their online romance, Ebor started asking to borrow money, claiming his bank account had been hacked.

Between December 2016 and January 2018, Ebor would allegedly go on to swindle R1.9 million out of his internet lover.

The money was reportedly transferred into different bank accounts, including an amount of R857,000 into Ebor’s business bank account.

The victim then decided to report the romance and theft to the police.

Ebor was located in a church service in Sandton and was arrested.

READ MORE: Joburg woman loses R1.9m in another online love scam

Additional reporting by Narissa Subramoney