Love scam

Two years in prison for involvement in love scam

The defendant knew several perpetrators and acted as a "link" for them.

(Bild: ©sesselritter - stock.adobe.com)

On Monday, a 58-year-old man was sentenced to two years' unconditional imprisonment at the Vienna Regional Court in connection with love scam fraud. The man, who had been living in Vienna for some time, belonged to a Nigerian gang that specialized in matchmaking scams.

The 58-year-old had nothing to do with the direct unfair scam. He did not himself go online in search of women who were looking for a partner, were made to believe that they were in love by unknown men on dating platforms and were then told by the scammers that certain things had to be paid for before a meeting.

However, the accused knew several perpetrators and acted as a "link" for them, as the public prosecutor said. She spoke of "overwhelming evidence" that the man had transferred the money he had scammed from his acquaintances to third-party accounts, or had fixed it and sent it to the people behind the crime through other channels. A loss of 500,000 euros was attributed to him.

"He was instrumentalized"
"He knew many people from the Nigerian community who made transfers through him," said defense lawyer Josef Philipp Bischof. The banking system in Nigeria was in disarray and his client had been used: "He was instrumentalized." A number of transfers were legally unobjectionable, but in the cases incriminated by the prosecution "he was aware that they were not legal activities", said Bischof.

After consulting with his legal representative, the 58-year-old accepted the verdict. The public prosecutor also agreed with the decision. The conviction for money laundering and participation in serious commercial fraud thus became final.