Two Nigerians arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for scamming $450,000 via Facebook

Ihugba Agustine Chinonso, 30, and Onu Chinonoso Peter, 31, said that their accomplices in Nigeria sent them to Vietnam to conspire with Vietnamese to steal money via Facebook.

They stole an estimated VND10 billion ($450,000).

The Nigerians made friends with their victims online and promised to send them valuable gifts and cash.

Seven suspects were arrested, including two Nigerians and five Vietnamese. Photo by Quoc Thang

After that, the Vietnamese conspirers called the victims claiming to be state officials and ask them to pay delivery and customs fees.

A victim in Ho Chi Minh City who declined to be named said she made friends on Facebook with a Nigerian businessman named Brian Ronald. After chatting for a long time, she fell in love with the man.

On February 2, her Nigerian "boyfriend” said he had sent her a laptop, iPad, perfume and $100,000 in cash as a gift.

She subsequently received a phone call from a delivery agency asking her to pay VND30 million ($1,300) for their delivery service. Several days later, a ‘fake’ customs officer asked led her to pay VND80 million ($3,500) in customs fees.

She received yet another phone call from a delivery firm asking her to pay a VND110 million ($5,000) in transport fees.

As the value of the gift she expected to receive was much higher than the fees she was asked to pay, she transferred all the requested money to the accounts provided by the scammers.

Only when a man posing as a policeman called asking her to pay VND200 million ($9,000) did she start to doubt her generous boyfriend. She then reported the case to the police.

She is just one of many victims cheated by the scammers, and police have called on other victims to report their cases.

Police confiscated fake seals and about 100 ATM and visa cards at the two Nigerians' house in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Quoc Thang

“This is the largest transnational ring scam smashed in Ho Chi Minh City. We believe that more victims will come forward in the days to come,” a representative from Ho Chi Minh police said.

The case is under further investigation.