“Hello Pat, pls, I need a lady who has a valid passport and is ready to travel with me after a solo wedding. I’m relocating and that’s the only step remaining. I am a candidate for an academic grant and it’s worth it. The departure date is around November.”
On July 15, Patrick Izu posted the message above as an anonymous request he had received from one of his over 43,000 followers on Facebook. Izu, a Facebook influencer, captioned the screenshot with the statement, ‘Girls dey get opportunities pass men’.
The post got more than 1,000 likes, six shares and 574 comments. Many of the comments reviewed by FIJ on August 8 were clearly pessimistic as commenters immediately saw through the deception branded as an opportunity. A lot of the commenters sounded a note of warning to women to be careful not to fall into the trap of kidnappers, organ harvesters or rapists. Amid these comments, Wilsong Pearl Eyo commented, “I can promise you that he will get loads of mails.”
The writer of that message was looking for a woman to follow him on the journey abroad as a dependent. They would organise a fake wedding in Nigeria in order to get a marriage certificate that would confer legitimacy on their claim to companionship.
Nigeria ranks first in Africa and seventh globally for international students in the United States of America, according to the US Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria’s website. Between 2020 and 2022, 34,000 Nigerians became citizens of the country.
The actual number of people who reached out to the anonymous writer is unknown but Busola, a woman who wants to be identified by her first name, was one. She responded, believing that could be her route to emigrate from Nigeria, a country she had lived in for the past 30 years of her existence.
Unfortunately, this was a romance scam disguised as an opportunity to relocate, albeit unlawfully, in search of greener pastures.
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WHO WAS BEHIND THE ANONYMOUS REQUEST?
Busola and the individual with the request moved their conversation to WhatsApp for ease of communication and they began their chatting about their plans. Their messages showed the requester’s intent hidden in plain sight, but the woman, though sceptical at some point, overlooked it and kept her eyes on the ultimate goal.
Adeola Adesoye Omojola was the requester. A native of Ikare in the Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State, Omojola is a serial scammer, identity thief and longtime impersonator of Omojola Joseph Olaoye, a legal practitioner called to the Nigerian Bar in 2007.
He is known on Facebook as Ade Ola Mie with 826 followers and Strix attorney, a private account on TikTok, with 1,149 followers.
“I had a video call with him to be sure he’s not faceless and not a scammer,” Busola told FIJ on July 20. “I asked him to explain to me, about the grant, which he did.”
The impersonator has been in the business of falsely presenting himself as a legal practitioner since 2021 and probably even earlier than that. On March 31, 2021, Human Rights Voice, an X account which has since gone inactive, alerted the public to his nefarious presentations.
“Let it be known that Omojola Adesoye Adeola (El Ray Marx) @Josepholaoyeesq is not a lawyer but impersonating the identity of Omojola Joseph Olaoye who is a lawyer, for fraudulent reasons. He claims to be the Legal Administrator of Netcom with forged documents. Beware of him,” Human Rights Voice wrote.
It appeared that the Human Rights Voice’s post was prompted by a complaint by ‘LadyFiddy’ on Nairaland who had detailed (archived here) her unwholesome experience at the hands of the fraudster and complained to the Nigerian Bar Association, an umbrella body for all qualified lawyers in Nigeria. She met him at a public function in April of 2019. He presented himself as an attorney and they both exchanged contact details but did not actively communicate until November of that year when he travelled to her home state in Delta State. Without prior notice, he called the lady to ask for a place to stay. LadyFiddy housed him in a male friend’s hostel room. Two days later, he left the state.
In 2021, fraudster Omojola renewed the communication for inordinate reasons, according to LadyFiddy’s account: for financial assistance and serious relationship. Many of his false claims aimed at railroading himself into the woman’s heart included being a legal administrator of the Lagos State-based digital service provider Netcom Africa, being a former employee of the federal revenue collector Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and being a valid member of the Nigerian Bar Association, all of which he provided fake supporting documents for.
Not only did he dupe LadyFiddy of N13,500 meant for waybilling a non-existent refrigerator he had said he would sell to her instead of ordering one from African online store Jumia, he also pestered her for a marriage and stole a few items from her.
“He started telling me how he likes me and wants to marry me, that I should prepare my family for his father to come and see them on the 15th of March [2021], that he told his father about me and his family knows me, that he has been watching me from social media and WhatsApp status and seeing all the things I do he is convinced I’m the kind of wife he wants to marry and many other things he kept saying that made me and my roommate laugh because how can you just come and say you want to marry someone just like that and you’re already booking a date so soon just like that and saying you told your family about me when I don’t even know your family and in fact everything sounded weird and funny,” LadyFiddy narrated.
“Someone I barely know, if not for the fact that I met him in a place where I considered the people to be trustworthy. His talks sounded odd but I tried not to be rude or arrogantly shut him down. I just played nice and asked him to pack his stuff and go and spend the night in the hostel of a male student whom I contacted to help accommodate him since he had travelled but left his key behind.”
LadyFiddy traced all the lines of Omojola’s claims and successfully confirmed that he had no affiliation with any of those organisations.
Beyond LadyFiddy, Omojola has a track record of fraud. People at the event where she met him said that they had also been victims one way or the other. Someone said he borrowed money from them without repaying the loan. Another individual said Omojola had been making efforts to be friends with her but she was fencing him off.
“They said he is untraceable to them and he also lied to them about his identity,” LadyFiddy added.
SIMILAR TACTICS, DIFFERENT VICTIMS
Back to the focus of this exposé. Embedded in Omojola’s fake claim of a foreign scholarship was sexual intimacy and financial rip-off.
With a five-year passport procured in 2023, and being a hospitality worker, Busola thought she ticked all boxes in the anonymous request. She emailed Omojola the same day the influencer posted his request. Remember that he had said in the anonymous message that he had a PhD scholarship. He told Busola that he was offered that fully funded scholarship by the Fulbright Scholar Programme, an initiative of the United States Department of State.
“He asked if I had money for a flight ticket and I told him my savings were just N800,000. I also told him that if I could not afford the ticket myself, I would just back out because I was not under any pressure to relocate,” Busola told FIJ.
While their chats lasted, Omojola comported himself in a way that gave his victim the impression that he had genuine intentions. When Busola, a mother of one child, suggested that he was merely looking for someone to sleep with, the Ondo-born imposter flared up, questioning Busola about what he had done to warrant that suspicion.
“The next stage is spousal registration,” Omojola, who claimed he had been given a visa and had just three months left to leave Nigeria, told Busola.
He is single but he claimed to have got the scholarship as a married man and wanted a marriage of convenience with someone. They would visit the Ikoyi Federal Marriage Registry with a few family members to collect a marriage certificate that would certify them as a couple.
Upgrading his false claim as a lawyer, the scammer said he recently passed the State of California Bar Exam.
“I went there to write for the State of California bar exam last year to be able to also practice as a lawyer over there,” Omojola stated in a WhatsApp message. “It is among the top 5 most difficult exams in the world.”
Based on Busola’s request, Omojola sent a couple of documents as view-once photos to prove his scholarship claim. Two days after their first conversation, he asked her to visit the American Consulate in Lagos to do her registration as a dependent and “see things for myself and to make enquiries about the programme, too”.
In a chat, he told Busola, “Whatever you want to know, my supervisor would answer you at the embassy.” Going a step further to educate Busola about the programme, he prompted Meta AI, Meta’s in-app chat assistant, to explain the Fulbright scholarship offer.
With a sense of urgency prevalent in the matter, Busola took a trip from Ogun State to the consulate on July 16 and kept in touch with her supposed ‘husband’ all the way.
A few days into their conversations, Omojola began using words like “dear”, “babe” and “love” for Busola. Claiming to be staying in Abuja with a fully-packed itinerary across states, he invited Busola to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In response, she asked, “Will you book a flight for me to come to Abuja?”
“Come and when you are going, I will sort that [out],” he assured the woman.
Because of that response, Busola said they could postpone their rendezvous appointment until their attention as a couple was required at the embassy. “Let’s not waste money,” she told him.
As if they had a real marriage already formed, the scammer retorted, “Wait ooo, coming to your husband’s place is [a] waste of money[?]”
Busola reminded him that she had only N800,000 and removing N200,000 for air travel would affect her ability to afford the US flight ticket.
Somewhere along the line, Omojola introduced a shocker. “Can you get pregnant before movement?” Busola’s response elicited a kind of pretentious rage from her ‘husband’. “It’s like you have other motives,” she told him.
“Is this necessary? Motive like how? Like what do you mean by other motives? What has developed up to such a level of thought,” Omojola retorted.
Busola had earlier told him that she was not desperate to emigrate. The second time she repeated the same thing as a response to his invitation to Abuja, Omojola took offence, saying, “Who is pressuring you? Did I give you an ultimatum or are we in a dilemma? The first time you said no [to the invitation to Abuja], I feel like it’s just a casual chat. But you repeated [it].”
Busola then said that her response was triggered by Omojola’s response to one of her chats. He had used the word ‘nevermind’ in an unclear manner. But the scammer replied, “I was only asking an honest question, so harmless and optional.”
For the second time, the scammer prompted Meta AI, “What’s the literal meaning of nevermind?”
That back and forth was eventually laid to rest.
FAKE SUPERVISOR AT THE EMBASSY
The consulate operates the EducationUSA Advising Center, a unit of the US Consulate in Lagos providing information to persons who intend to study in any US institution. Between Mondays and Thursdays, the centre conducts general workshops for potential applicants. Membership costs N32,000 and another N2,000 application fee.
When Busola got to the consulate, a man at the gate prevented her from entering because she could not present any evidence of an appointment. She escalated the situation to Omojola.
“Tell them you are coming for EducationUSA to make enquiries about Fulbright scholarship,” he told her, but this was still insufficient to grant her a pass.
The fraudster then said he would contact his supposed supervisor who was working at the embassy to attend to her. Then he sent a contact detail “Dr Elizabeth PhD” and added a caveat, “They said you shouldn’t call.”
“My name is Omojola Adeola Adesoye, FLC [an acronym for Foreign Legal Consultant, someone licensed to practice law in California]. I am a foreign legal consultant in the State Bar of California and also a Fulbright scholarship candidate,” he wrote.
Interestingly, Omojola was the same person pretending to be “Dr Elizabeth PhD”, but his victim did not notice this on time. Busola kept chatting with Elizabeth and she was told that she needed to pay $26 for an appointment at the consulate.
FIJ verified the supposed supervisor’s number onTruecaller and it came back as “Adeola The Law”. “Adeola” is Omojola’s first name and “The Law” was an alias he used while he paraded himself as a lawyer simply because, as findings showed, he used to work as an office assistant in a law office in Ikare.
Busola told the scammer about the payment request and he converted it to naira, saying it amounted to N40,000 and it could only be paid through his scholarship portal. But the lady only had N30,000 to spare at that moment. She had to make some calls to raise N10,000.
“She said you should copy the code and send it,” Busola, referring to the supposed supervisor, told the scammer in a chat. “So I can make the payment.”
“I’ve not paid now,” said the scammer who sent a web link to Fulbright’s applicant portal. “You mean you want to login to my portal to pay?”
He said he had an Access Bank naira account and a UBA domiciliary account. But he could not pay the money from his Access Bank account due to the poor network connection. And his OPay wallet had no sufficient funds, hence his request for Busola to send the money to him.
Busola sent the money and left the consulate unable to get inside. The next day, July 17, Omojola messaged her via the fake supervisor’s phone number to ask her for her air fare.
“So I informed him that this woman [the fake supervisor] was asking me for my flight ticket, and he said it is normal because he had been give a visa. And he screenshot a visa booking to me,” Busola said. “I asked him how much it will cost and he said over N2 million.”
She told Omojola that she could only afford N700,000. He then assured her that he would add the rest from his pocket to reserve economy seats for the two of them.
With a proclivity to make every stage convincing, Omojola sent a screenshot of an airline booking webpage to Busola, showing a one-way flight schedule from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
“Buh babe, hope I won’t regret this [referring to his decision to partly pay for her air fare],” Omojola wrote in their chat. In response, Busola said, “You will never regret it. I promise.”
In the afternoon of that day, Busola emptied her bank account sending N700,000 in two transactions to Omojola: N300,000 and N400,000, leaving just N907,03 balance.
SYSTEMATIC ATTEMPT TO ISOLATE BUSOLA
Omojola told Busola to come to Ikare because his parents wanted to see her. While Busola believed that a certain level of familiarity was necessary for the deal, she wanted him to be the first to visit her.
“My granny must never know I travel elsewhere without my parent’s permission. And my parents frown against visiting women. Rather, let your woman visit you,” Omojola, the scammer, told Busola in a chat.
With a “Hmm” response from Busola, Omojola responded, “That’s why I said you should come.”
The scammer claimed that he lost his mother years ago. On the other hand, Busola’s mum is alive. Busola then said her mother’s consent was crucial to the arrangement and insisted Omojola must visit her before they could proceed with the court wedding.
“You are not coming because of me. You are coming to see my parents,” said Busola.
Although the conversation was not destined for good, Omojola pretended he would visit Busola’s mother. However, he wanted Busola to assure him of his security.
“Babe, am I safe? I hope no man is disturbing you over there, who may become hostile to me?” he wrote.
Busola’s planned to make sure Omojola would not spend the night in Ogun State. He would arrive at her place and they would both visit her mother. Immediately they were done, Omojola would return to his base. But he had a different plan.
He said he was in Ekiti, a state that is five hours far away from Ogun, and would like to visit her mum before leaving there.
“The distance between Ekiti and Ogun can’t be compared with Abuja and Ogun… Where would I stay?” he said.
Busola said he would return the same day and he still asked, “Same day, right?”
Busola then said he could come the next day. Like someone maintaining an event-packed itinerary, the fake husband responded, “I will be in Kano throughout next week.” When asked whether he had his own car, he said, “Only my dad’s automobiles.”
“Beyond the financial loss, I suspect the worst could have happened if I had gone to meet him. He could have attempted to rape me or even aim at my life if that would help him achieve his goal,” Busola told FIJ.
Busola’s mother requested to see Omojola’s pictures and also speak to him on the phone. He provided a selfie in which he wore NYSC khakis, inner white vest uniform and a backpack. With white earbuds and heavy punk haircut, he tilted his head a bit backward and left his mouth open before smiling at the camera.
Omojola sent a couple of other photos, including one in which he was suited in black with an advocate collar, a white V-shaped band common with lawyers, to further solidify his claim to the professional status.
HOW HE WAS ARRESTED
The moment Busola sent all of the cash in her savings account, she grew restless and curious. She decided to run some searches on his name. Her discovery sent shivers down her spine: Omojola is a serial scammer.
“What I ought to have done first, I did it last,” Busola told FIJ.
FIJ first spoke to Busola on July 20 and she narrated what had transpired so far. Her priority was to recover her money. So, she was advised to report to the police in her community.
She also got in contact with a young lady from Ikare who knew the scammer. The lady explained that Omojola was never a lawyer but had worked for a lawyer in the community. In Ikare, he is popularly known as “The Law”, said the young lady. With this revelation, Omojola was not untraceable anymore.
With administrative bottlenecks delaying the officers at the nearest police station to Busola, she contacted Azeez Jimoh, an operative at the Ikare Police Area Command, who said he knew Omojola quite well. On August 6, Omojola was arrested.
He confessed to the crime and lied that he was ready to return Busola’s money. The police communicated this to her and asked her to visit the station. After an 11-hour journey down to Ikare, Busola arrived in the town at midnight and lodged in a hotel.
“They brought him out of his cell when I got there [August 7] and asked him to send me the money. Shockingly, he said he did not have any money,” said Busola.
“I became furious and the police officers were also angry because he had told them that he was ready to transfer my money.”
Omojola was also robbing Peter to pay Paul. He said he owed some people before going to prison and when he returned, those people started demanding their money and threatening to report him to the authorities. So he had used Busola’s money to settle the debt. He said he bought a new android phone for N140,000 and added that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja was on his trail.
Officers at the police command revealed that Omojola had been previously arrested and jailed in a criminal case of impersonation filed by a local group of lawyers in Ikare but FIJ found no report about the case. He would go to police stations and dress as an attorney to secure bail for suspects. According to the police, he returned from prison just three months earlier.
ANOTHER VICTIM
With Busola, the police searched Omojola’s untidy one room apartment in his uncle’s building on August 6. The uncle, whom Busola said did not mention his name, explained that the scammer lost his mother at a young age and his dad died years ago. This uncle had been the one housing Omojola. However, he said he was fed up with his ways.
They retrieved some law texts from Omojola’s apartment. The police also printed some attorney-styled pictures recovered from his phone.
“He did not look remorseful. He is a hardened criminal,” said Busola.
“It is just my money and justice I want.”
The uncle explained that Omojola recently lured a lady from Delta State to Ikare. According to the uncle, Omojola told the lady that he was a travel agent who could help her procure a visa. The lady then said she could not send her money to someone she had never seen. He then invited her to Ikare, promising to refund her transport fare when she came, a tactic identical to what he employed against Busola. The lady had not left Ikare when the police arrived.
“The girl was just crying profusely, locking her hands on her head,” Busola, recounting the words of the uncle who was a younger brother to Omojola’s late dad, said. The Delta girl was stranded and had no way to return home. The uncle and a few people had to contribute N20,000 for her transport fare to travel back home.
OMOJOLA TO HAVE HIS DAY IN COURT
None of Omojola’s family members showed up for him at the police command. He readily told the police that he was ready to appear in court and plead guilty because “he was incapable of returning Busola’s money”.
The police asked him why he still retained some of the pictures depicting him as a lawyer on his phone despite having been jailed once because of the same offence.
Azeez Jimoh, the police officer who facilitated Omojola’s arrest, told FIJ that the police would soon charge him in court.
However, the cost implication of Busola having to shuttle between two states to participate in the trial is already is a clog in the wheel of justice. Partly due to poor network penetration, virtual court proceedings are still nascent in Nigeria, forcing litigants to travel hundreds of kilometres to attend trials with attendant financial and resource losses.
“The police said my presence is required for the prosecution to follow through, which means I will be shuttling between Ogun and Ondo states to attend court proceedings. I do not have the resources to fulfil this aspect of my justice-seeking efforts. In consideration, I think I have made peace with myself,” Busola said on August 12.
“If he goes ahead to scam more people, he might meet his waterloo. But for me, I am compelled to leave everything to God at this point. More so, the police said the case might not lead to the recovery of money.”
It is unclear whether Omojola had actually appeared before any court to parade that fake professional credential or signed off any legal instruments in favour of anybody.
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Facebook influencer Izu, whose platform posted Omojola’s request, declined to respond to a request for comment. Instead, he threatened to “pick” this reporter.
“Hope you know what this is. It’s called [an] anonymous message. It implies you don’t know or see who sends it. Reason why in some captions I’ll say verify properly,” Izu wrote when FIJ first asked whether he recalled posting the message.
But when pressed further with specific questions, Izu dissolved the conversation into threats.
“Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Where you are now, don’t worry, soon, you will be picked,” Izu stated via WhatsApp on Tuesday.
“You think it’s everybody you guys would just go around and look for a way to scam. You don’t even know who you chatted with. Don’t worry, small time, you will be picked from wherever you are hiding in. I just give you a small time, you will be picked.”
The post ROMANCE SCAM: How Fake Lawyer Adeola Adesoye Omojola Used ‘PhD’ Scheme to Prey on Nigerian Lady appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.