Socialite Henry Ikeji poses as Dubai crown prince, defrauds woman of $2.5m

Nigerian socialite and Internet fraudster Nzube Henry Ikeji posed as the crown prince of Dubai to deceive a love-struck 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.

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.