A Nigerian footballer based in Malta, Sunday Eboh, has been arrested by the Maltese police for allegedly defrauding a woman of the sum of \u20ac58,000 (about N26.7m), by posing as an American soldier online and proposing marriage to the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Maltatoday, Eboh, who is \u2018one of Malta\u2019s most prolific Nigerian footballing imports,\u2019 was arrested on Monday and arraigned in court on romance scam and money laundering charges alongside a Maltese national, Alexandra Pace, and three other Nigerians, Collins Eguavoen, Marvis Iyeke and Tony Ogbonna, who are said to be members of the fraud syndicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police said that an elderly Maltese woman fell victim to the fraud after engaging in an online relationship with Eboh whom she believed was an American soldier deployed in Afghanistan who promised her that he would return to Malta once his deployment ended and get married to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDespite never meeting with the soldier, the woman took the relationship seriously, and transferred \u20ac58,000 to the person who allegedly asked her to pay for his expenses,\u201d the police said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInvestigations by the police later revealed the alleged fraud was being carried out in the country by a group of people who were seeing that the money was being deposited in a number of local bank accounts. The money was being transacted in small amounts and laundered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe police were able to identify those who were behind the scam and arrested five individuals aged between 28 to 58 years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOgbonna is the mastermind in the operation, although no account was traced back to him,\u201d the police statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n