Aussie woman scammed Nigerians: court


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A BRISBANE woman fleeced Nigerian scam artists by stealing more than $30,000 from their internet car sales racket, a court has been told.

Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey, 23, was employed by the Nigerians as an "agent" in March 2010 but was unaware they were scam artists, the Brisbane District Court heard today.

Her job was to provide an Australian bank account through which they could funnel any payments they received through their dodgy account on a popular car sales website.

Cochrane-Ramsey was to keep eight per cent of all money paid into her account and forward the rest to the Nigerian scammers.

However, the court heard she kept the two payments she received - totaling $33,350 - and spent most of it on herself.

The car buyers who were ripped off reported the matter to police, who traced the account to Cochrane-Ramsey.

Police inquiries found her employers were based in Nigeria but had been using a web server in New York to run their dodgy car sales listings.

Cochrane-Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated fraud on Thursday.

Judge Terry Martin described her as having a "dishonest bent" after hearing she had a history of stealing and property offenses.

He adjourned the sentence to allow her time to provide further details of money she claimed was in a bank account that would allow her to make some repayments.

Cochrane-Ramsey will be sentenced next month.

She was allowed bail until then.

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She was unaware(?) of the scam that was occurring. Im pretty sure that she just wanted to nab the money.

Also the Nigerians didn't report her, the people who got ripped off did.

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She was unaware(?) of the scam that was occurring. Im pretty sure that she just wanted to nab the money.

Also the Nigerians didn't report her, the people who got ripped off did.

There are two possibilities:

1. She knew that it was a scam -> She scammed both the regular folks and the Nigerians.

2. She didn't know it was a scam -> She scammed the Nigerians, who to her knowledge were just as innocent as the regular folks. So regardless of the fact that those Nigerians were scammers themselves, her intention was quite obviously to scam people for their money.

You can't spin this in her favor no matter how hard you try. She should be in jail.

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