A Nigerian woman, Jumoke Ayedun, has been arrested in New Jersey, United States for allegedly defrauding a woman.
The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said it got a report from a victim that she had been contacted by an individual via Facebook who identified herself as her known relative.
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Ayedun, 29, was said to have used a fake Facebook profile of the relative with a photo to deceive her victim.
The county’s office said the Nigerian was able to convince the victim that she was eligible to receive a grant from the United Nations Democracy Fund Program.
Ayedun allegedly received a total of $17,000 from the victim over the course of several weeks with the promise that she would get a cheque of $75,000.
The sheriff’s office said Ayedun, who was arrested on Monday, is in the US on a visa.
Smith County Sheriff’s investigator, John Partlow, said he tracked the fraudulent activity through the bank account number provided to the victim for routing purposes.
He also said that Ayedun had been receiving numerous deposits into her account from sources such as Venmo, Zellepay, and personal checks.
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Mr Partlow was able to freeze Ayedun’s account and potentially recoup some of the money that was lost by the victim in this case.
According to KLTV, Ayedun has been kept in jail in Hackensack, New Jersey, awaiting extradition to Smith County.
