Nigerian socialite and Internet fraudster Nzube Henry Ikeji posed as the crown prince of Dubai to deceive a lovestruck Romanian woman into a relationship and defraud her of millions of dollars using the name of Sheikh Hamdan Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Investigations carried out by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed that Mr Ikeji, who rubs shoulders with Nigeria’s high and mighty, including real estate mogul Obi Cubana and Grammy-nominated artiste Davido, was running a syndicate that targeted desperate love-seeking women overseas.
Romania-based Ms Laura, who sought to be identified only by her first name due to embarrassment over falling for a romance scam, said she was contacted on LinkedIn by the supposed crown prince of Dubai three years ago.
At the time, the so-called prince sought her advice on the most resourceful Romanian humanitarian foundations that needed investment and a financial boost. The professional relationship soon gave way to a personal one, and after years of chatting, it became a full-blown romantic relationship.
Mr Ikeji, still posing as the Dubai crown prince, subsequently asked Ms Laura to meet his financial manager, Matthew Cros, in London to discuss how to obtain funding and open a Barclays account for her, a request she obliged.
Ms Laura travelled to London to meet the financial manager, a Nigerian who claimed to handle the finances of the Emirati royals. She met the man on multiple occasions, and unbeknownst to him, she brought her friend, who secretly took pictures of the meeting.
British police would later identify Mr Cros as a fake name for Martins Abhulimhen, a popular Nigerian socialite and philanthropist who previously ran an NGO, the Jose Foundation, and had been pictured with Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
It is unclear whether Mr Abhulimhen was a Muslim, given that he wore a taqiyah, a cap or head covering worn by Muslim men, when he met the Romanian lady, or whether it was part of the disguise to maintain his cover as a member of the Emirati crown prince’s staff.
Ms Laura was subsequently given login details for an online account, including username and password. She saw the deposit of approximately £202 million in her name. Ms Laura had no inkling that it was a doctored account with no actual funds. To make withdrawals, she was asked to deposit £7,000 to access the supposed crown prince’s deposit.
The money seemed like small potatoes compared to the previous hundreds of thousands of dollars she had already wired to the so-called prince since they began talking. So, she paid. The more she paid, the more she was billed before withdrawing the £202 million. Ms Laura believed she could access the funds if she continued to make additional payments, which had now reached about £2.5 million, to access the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Back in Nigeria, Mr Ikeji was having a bitter fight with his co-conspirators over how to share Ms Laura’s money. The Nigerian man had grown even greedier, investigations surmised. The fight became even more nasty after someone named James Patrick Normoyle, who claimed to be a financial adviser, reached out to Ms Laura.
He advised her to stop sending money to any “person or group” in the hope of marriage. The person further informed her that the “pre-marital visitation acknowledgement form” that she received from the crown prince “is also a fraud”.
“He defrauded you of more than 3 million euros,” the adviser explicitly told Ms Laura in an email.
A new message from Mr Cros (Mr Abhulimhen), whom she had earlier met in London, heightened her suspicions.
Mr Cros (Mr Abhulimhen) told Ms Laura that she was under the influence of an African black magic spell cast by the man impersonating the Emirati crown prince.
“African magic juju and voodoo he has used on you to make you believe he was real prince to marry you,” Mr Cros wrote to her via an encrypted messaging app.
Ms Laura enquired about her multimillion-dollar account in London, whether it was real.
“It’s a lie from the pit of hell,” the financial manager said, exposing the antics of the Yahoo Boy.
Ms Laura sought clarification from the supposed prince, confronting him with the new information. But the fake prince dismissed her concerns, claiming that his financial adviser only wanted to destroy their relationship.
“Matthew has targeted planned (sic) against my relationship with you,” read the chat from the fake prince that Ms Laura had saved as Sheikh Hamdan.
At this point, the Romanian woman realised she was being scammed and begged for a refund.
“How can you be like this, a person with no soul,” Ms Laura wrote to the impersonator.
She sought help from the fake prince’s co-conspirators, Messrs Normoyle and Cros, the same people who exposed the scam. She pleaded for more information on the impersonator.
Feeling betrayed by Mr Ikeji’s greed in sharing the proceeds of fraud, the co-conspirator snitched and told Ms Laura that the fake prince was Nzube Henry Ikeji.
The co-conspirator further shared videos of Mr Henry’s new house, crucial information that helped journalists track him down to his sprawling mansion in an estate in Abuja.
OCCRP’s Matt Sarnecki travelled to Abuja to meet his Nigerian colleague, Chikezie Omeje, who helped uncover Mr Ikeji’s whereabouts.
Mr Ikeji’s digital footprint led the OCCRP right to him, as pictures of his luxury lifestyle were splashed across his Instagram page. The identity of his wife, Confidence Amara Ikeji, was also unveiled, given that the couple often vacationed abroad, travelling in business class.
In one Instagram reel, the couple went shopping at a luxury Louis Vuitton store in the UK, with the wife dressed in fur and posing with many shopping bags.
Mr Ikeji also purchased a Lexus 570, a 2020 Range Rover Vogue, and luxury watches, including a Hublot. He was so loud with his wealth that he earned the nickname ‘Access Money’ from friends and others.
An Igbo man, Mr Ikeji, holds a traditional title in the North, as the Sarkin Gabas Matasan of Nasarawa. He was also honoured with the chieftaincy title of the Ojichukwu Ndi Igbo na South East in 2024.
Mrs Ikeji, whose Instagram username is ‘prettyfident’, uploaded a post thanking God for blessing her family with “another mansion in another city”.
“Forever grateful, Lord,” she captioned the post of the sprawling mansion on Instagram.
The fake Emirati prince also uploaded a picture with one of Nigeria’s biggest real estate moguls.
To track down Mr Ikeji, OCCRP used pictures from the couple’s social media and matched them to houses in different estates owned by the popular developer.
Mr Omeije of the OCCRP drove to several estates in Abuja in his hunt for the fake crown prince of Dubai. After a long search, the journalist found the house with Mr Ikeji standing shirtless on the balcony of its upper floor.
OCCRP confronted Mr Ikeji with their findings, questioning his claim of being the Emirati crown prince to Ms Laura in Romania. He denied all accusations. He, however, admitted knowing Mr Abhuliemen, the man who posed as his financial manager to meet Ms Laura in London.
Mr Ikeji was rather concerned about how the OCCRP tracked him down.
“But how did you get to my house?” he asked.
When the OCCRP further questioned Mr Ikeji about whether Mr Abhulimhen had wired him money from the UK, Mr Ikeji deflected, saying questions should be directed to his lawyers.
“I would prefer this question you are asking me now, you consult me in the office, or you meet me or meet my legal team.
Mr Abhulimhen’s pictures, which were secretly taken by Ms Laura’s friend, were transferred to the British police and officers identified him as a person under investigation. He was under investigation for fraudulent transactions and was later found to be the liaison who received funds from Ms Laura and transferred them to Mr Ikeji in Nigeria.
Mr Abhulimhen, the fraud liaison, has been pictured with prominent personalities, including then-President Muhammadu Buhari, former Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and a London mayor.
Like Mr Abhulimhen, the fake Emirati crown prince also has a humanitarian foundation that shares rice and other staples with the less privileged.
Mr Ikeji has denied culpability in the $2.5 million scam, claiming international money transfers from Mr Abhulimhen’s account were donations to his foundation.
Mr Abhulimhen, on his part, resigned his position as president of the Jose Foundation. He failed to respond to OCCRP’s enquiries about his alleged involvement in the scam.
A UK court seized £113,000 pounds from Mr Abhulimhen’s account, which will be given to Ms Laura. However, further investigations by the British police have to be routed through the Romanian authorities.
The Nigerian government also confirmed that it is investigating the matter. So far, Messrs Ikeji and Abhulimhen have not been charged.
(Gist core)
