Axelle Mahieu, an educator who works as a caregiver in Brussels, Belgium, was surfing through her Facebook page after returning from work one evening in November 2021 when she saw that someone had sent her a message.
The message was from Ume Ifechukwu Clinton, a 29-year-old Nigerian who introduced himself as “a friend of a friend”.
As they continued chatting in the following days, Ume also told Mahieu that he was an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Several months after, the Belgian now wishes she never responded to the Nigerian. Her reason? Ume ended up defrauding her of €45,000.
MAHIEU’S INITIAL ENCOUNTERS WITH UME
While speaking to FIJ, Mahieu said she had no inkling that Ume was not who he told her he was.
“I met Ume on Facebook after he told me we knew each other from another friend of his. We later became friends and he regularly chatted me up via Messenger. This was towards the end of last year,” she told FIJ.
“He would even make a video call to me at times, and I was beginning to believe we were close, as he would sometimes show me his mom. He would also send me his pictures, his international passport and other little information about him while we were chatting.
“He said he worked for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and even sent me a video of his EFCC badge. I thought it was all real.”
One of the numerous videos sent by Clinton to AxelleVideo of the EFCC identity card
THE CRYPTOCURRENCY BUSINESS PITCH
After gaining Mahieu’s trust, Ume proposed a cryptocurrency and NFTs business to her, assuring her of huge profit and a secured capital. He also assured her that no loss would be incurred because he would use his office as an EFCC official to protect her investment.
“At a point, he suggested I invest in crypto, which I didn’t know much about, and told me he would help me with it. My first transaction with him started around December ending. I usually sent him the money through Binance,” Mahieu said.
“He kept advising me to keep investing, even when I had not seen my profits yet. Despite always saying a subsequent payment would be my last, he kept on coming back to ask me to send more money. He did this several times to me.”
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