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Nigerian Cops Find $43 Million In Apartment After Responding To Tip-Off

Nigerian Cops Find $43 Million In Apartment After Responding To Tip-Off

What a find!

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Unfortunately, when I think of Nigerian dollars, I immediately see the hundreds of emails I've received over the years claiming someone wanted to send me millions.

The messages would always say the cash was being kept until they could verify my bank details but I never trusted them.

Well clearly no one else was responding to the emails, as Nigerian authorities just found US$43 million in cash just lying about an apartment.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has posted to Facebook saying they also found $23 million Nigerian dollars and £27,000.


"The operation followed a whistle blower's confidential alert received by the Commission's Lagos office this morning regarding some noticed suspicious movement of bags in and out of a particular apartment in the building.

"On getting to the building, operatives met the entrance door locked. Inquiries from the guards at the gate explained that nobody resides in the apartment, but some persons come in and out once in a while. In compliance with the magisterial order contained in the warrant, the EFCC used minimum force to gain entrance into the apartment.

"Preliminary findings indicate that the funds are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity."

When the news broke, people reacted in typical fashion:


The money will be forfeited to the Federal Government unless someone claims responsibility for it in the next two weeks.

The Nigerian email scams have led to many people losing tens of thousands of pounds each. But while some might wallow in their misery that they were unfortunate enough to fall for the scam - imagine meeting the person who defrauded you?

That's exactly what Maria Grette did after she realised she was another victim of the scams commonly known as 419 scams.

maria
maria

Credit: Maria Grette/BBC

The 64-year-old Swede stopped contacting the man who duped her, also known as 'Johnny'. However, a few months later, the man she'd fallen for got back in touch, confessing his sins.

He described himself as the devil, as well as admitting that Maria was not who he thought she was - which is funny, because that's literally the opposite of what his original plan was supposed to achieve.

Maria explained: "He said he had never met anyone like me before, that he had been fighting his feelings for me for a long time. He said his scamming mates had warned him about falling in love with a 'client', that he had ignored them because he trusted me and did not want to lose contact with me."

maria 2
maria 2

Credit: Maria Grette/BBC

After coming clean and revealing himself as a Nigerian man less than half her age, the pair began a genuine relationship, eventually meeting up with each other.

She made her way to Nigeria where she met 'Johnny', his friends and his family. After seeing that most of his friends were scammers, she decided that she could try and make a difference in not only their lives, but the country as a whole.

Featured Image Credit: Facebook