Nigerian man, 36, bags 8years jail term in London over Lottery Scam

Godwin Nwaofor, 36, from one of the Eastern states in Nigeria kept a 'suckers list' of potential victims to send bogus letters saying they had won the Australian Lottery.

The Nigerian national received around £1million from the scam and blew the money on luxury cars, gold jewellery and expensive champagne at top nightclubs in London.

Nwaofor was a ‘willing and enthusiastic lieutenant’ to the mastermind of the con, another Nigerian, Frank Onyechonam, who was nicknamed ‘Fizzy’ for his love of vintage champagne. Some photos of his ill acquired assets...

 

 

Onyeachonam was jailed eight years last year, after he was exposed as the chief player in the scam.

He drove a Maserati and fired bubbly corks across exclusive private members clubs as he lived a life of fantastic luxury on his victim’s life savings.

The scam started with a bogus letter to a vulnerable pensioner telling them they had won the Australian Lottery.

The letters were sent by a ‘lottery agent’ targeting mainly American pensioners informing them they had won a life-changing prize and requesting a modest sum to release the funds.

Believing they had won, victims were hooked into paying fees to release their ‘winnings’ through an agent who would demand ‘activation fees’ to release their cash.

In some cases, dupes set up businesses in an attempt to receive their winnings and became unwitting money mules laundering cash from other victims.

Nwaofor, a father of two, regularly switched addresses to avoid being caught.

One victim, a 76-year-old woman, who believed she had won $1.85m, tried to track down Nwaofor after the FBI told her she had fallen victim to a scam.

She flew to the UK and went to the address she had for Nwaofor, but found that he had already moved on to another address.

Judge Richard Hone QC said the evidence in the case, at Central Criminal Court, against Nwaofor was ‘overwhelming’ and showed him to be a proven liar.

‘You have a tendency to be dishonest in your dealings with landlords, agencies, the police, HMRC, and car hire firms’, he said.

‘You also moved addresses regularly to ensure your whereabouts remained a mystery.’

Police identified 406 victims from two notebooks found at Onyeachonam’s Canary Wharf penthouse when he was arrested.

They seized Louis Vuitton shoes, Gucci handbags, a collection of expensive watches and dozens of designer shoes, as well as 5,000 pictures of Onyeachonam flaunting his wealth at exclusive upmarket venues including the Guvnor Bar in Docklands, east London.

One picture shows him showering a friend with champagne, in others he poses with scantily clad blondes or waves wads of £50 notes.