Scammers, Scammed
A woman described by a judge as having a ‘dishonest bent’ stole more than £22,000 from a gang of Nigerian scam artists who had set up a dodgy internet car sales business.
Australian Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey admitted one count of aggravated fraud at Brisbane District Court today.
The court heard how she spent money the Nigerians deposited in an Australian bank account opened as part of their racket.
The group employed her as an ‘agent’ in March 2010 and asked her to open the account so they could siphon off the cash they received through their dodgy account on a popular car sales website, The Courier Mail said.
Brisbane District Court heard that under the deal, she was allowed to keep eight per cent of all the money paid into it and she was supposed to forward the rest to the Nigerians.
But, she pocketed the two payments she received which were worth $33,350 Australian dollars, spending the majority of it on herself.
The court heard the 23-year-old was not aware they were scamming customers when she stole the cash.
The scam eventually unravelled when people buying cars realised they were being ripped off and called the police.
Police discovered that the group ran their car sales ‘business’ using a New York web server but were based in Nigeria.
Officers then traced the account to Cochrane-Ramsay who the court heard had a history of stealing and property offences, the newspaper said.
She will be sentenced next month.
Author: Chief Editor
Nigerian Community,News, Events and more
