UK police arrest Nigerian conman for £220k fraud racketeering

A Nigerian conman who won refugee status to stay in the United Kingdom has been arrested for fraud racketeering.

The 33-year-old claimed that he was persecuted in Nigeria for being gay before going on to have three children with three women in Britain, and was arrested for masterminding a £220,000 (N230,788 million) Facebook and eBay parcel fraud.

It was gathered that the asylum seeker, Saheed Azeez, had been allowed to settle in the UK after claiming that he faced persecution by Boko Haram militants, but after moving to the country he had three children thereby marrying the third woman and started claiming that he was bisexual.

After settling in Wigan, Greater Manchester, he began working with Nigerian fraudsters to establish a network of strangers for a sophisticated and well-resourced sales scam to steal items being sold on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and WhatsApp.

According to reports, victims who sold high-value goods were persuaded to send their items to a number of addresses on the promise of being paid on arrival, but Azeez would simply pick up the goods and sell them in his brother’s electronics shop.

Meanwhile, 14 months ago, up to 272 victims sent goods worth £220,000 to the homes of strangers that he persuaded to take part in the scam, giving his partners a cut from each sale in return for taking delivery of the goods.

The police later tracked down the culprit as he was dropping off one of his young sons at school. As he was about to be detained, he reportedly hid three smartphones used in the scam inside the boy’s school bag, which was found by a teaching assistant.

The phones were found to contain videos made by the culprit, one sent to an underworld contact that showed images of used smartphones stolen from sellers.

At the Bolton Crown Court, Azeez admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and plotting to possess criminal property.

He will be sentenced but faces up to six years in jail.

Nine householders who allowed their addresses to be used as drops in the scam will also be sentenced next year.

The scam took place between September 2020 and November 2021 after former Yodel delivery driver Azeez began providing.