American narrates how Nigerian ‘swindled’ her of $183,000 in online scam

A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has narrated how she was swindled of $183,000 by one Wawe Nelson in 2023.

The EFCC arraigned Nelson on February 11 for allegedly defrauding two US victims – Kathleen Sharp and Holly Stamm – of $968,000.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the 11-count charge bordering on advance fee fraud, impersonation, conspiracy and money obtaining under false pretence.

According to the EFCC, Nelson pretended to be James Andrew Smith, a petroleum engineer based in the US, to defraud Sharp.

He also pretended to be Philip Bradley sometime in 2022 to defraud Stamm.

Led in evidence on Thursday by Maryam Ahmed, the prosecuting counsel, Sharp narrated how the defendant lured her via social media into sending him money in the guise of financing a project and would repay her when the project yielded dividends upon completion.

“I was contacted by the commission that they discovered that I was defrauded by one James Andrew Shmit via social media platform,” she said. 

“We communicated over social media where he presented himself as an engineer working at BP Oil in the Gulf of Mexico. He started by asking for funds because he did not have access to his personal funds and the credit situation in connection with the project required a large amount of funds with the promise that it will be returned and he will avail the funds to me. 

“The total funds are $183,000 through three instalments, one by wired certificate cheque, two instalments by wired transfer. The first one was for $45,500, the second one was $131,000 and the third was $7000 I wired. I have not been paid my money.”