67-year-old Micheal Neu, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a “Nigerian prince" fraud scheme that defrauded people of thousands of dollars.
Louisiana police have arrested a man parading himself as a Nigerian prince, and successfully scamming thousands.
The man, 67-year-old Micheal Neu, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of involvement in a “Nigerian prince" fraud scheme that defrauded people of thousands of dollars.
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Newsweek reports that he now faces 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering after being taken into custody after an 18-month long investigation.
The Slidell Police Department revealed in a statement that Neu acted as a “middleman” for a group of Nigerian scammers, obtaining money and wiring funds to his co-conspirators.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, the scammers are said to operate by posing as Nigerian royalty or high-ranking officials and persuading victims to provide them with financial assistance or personal information to retrieve a non-existent inheritance.
"Most people laugh at the thought of falling for such a fraud, but law enforcement officials report annual losses of millions of dollars to these schemes," Slidell police said in a statement.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said in a released statement. "Never give out personal information over the phone, through e-mail, cash checks for other individuals, or wire large amounts of money to someone you don’t know. 99.9 percent of the time, it’s a scam.”
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The police also revealed that their investigation is ongoing but that the fact that many of those accused of involvement in the scheme live outside the U.S., and this has proved to be a problem for the investigation.
Although these scams have become notorious, thousands still fall for them.