The sum of 10,000 Euros belonging to a french national was returned by the EFCC after his fraudsters had been apprehended by the agency.
The EFCC on Thursday, July 2, said it has returned 10,000 Euros to a French victim of love 419, F. Mercade.
A statement issued in Abuja by Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman for the EFCC, said the money was 'wired’ to the victim’s account in France.
He said the mode of sending the money was on the recommendation of the French Embassy situated in Nigeria.
According to him, Roger Balima, French Police Liaison Officer, who confirmed the receipt of the money by the victim, "thanked the EFCC for the good job.’’
Uwujaren said Mercade was duped by two internet fraudsters, Omodara Oluseye and Adesuyi Adedapo after he was tricked into a phantom relationship that was supposedly altar bound.
The EFCC spokesman said that the scam was reported to the commission via a petition from the French Consulate in Lagos, on behalf of Mercade.
According to him, the petitioner said he met a Nigerian lady, 'Kate Williams’ on the internet sometime in 2009 and they developed a relationship which was to culminate in marriage.
"Williams was to relocate to join Mercade in France, to consummate the relationship while Mercade planned the logistics of the relocation.
"Williams, who purportedly did some jobs for an unnamed company in Nigeria, came up with a story that the company refused to pay her.
"Mercade parted with the money through Western Union, in processing his `brides’’ passage with no bride in sight and it eventually dawned on him that he had been scammed.’’
Uwujaren said investigations by EFCC revealed that ‘Kate Williams’ is the false name of Oluseye, a male student of the College of Agriculture, Akure.
According to him, Oluseye’s accomplice, Adedapo, assisted in collecting the money transferred by the victim from Akure, Ondo State branch of a new generation bank, using forged driver’s license.