A Manitoba Woman Lost $50K In An Online Romance Scam & 2 Suspects Have Been Charged

Two men from the GTA are accused of theft and fraud.

A Manitoba Woman Lost $50,000 In An Online Romance Scam & 2 Suspects Have Been Charged
Terovesalainen | Dreamstime
Western Canada Editor

Two men accused of taking $50,000 from a woman in an online romance scam have now been charged.

The woman, who lives in Manitoba but has not been named, met a man on an online dating website in July 2019. Over the next several weeks, the woman was misled by the man and tricked into sending thousands of dollars, according to Thompson RCMP.

RCMP say the woman believed she was in a romantic relationship with the man and that the money she sent was to help him.

Following a two-year investigation, Thompson RCMP and Major Crime Services, along with the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement unit arrested two men from the Greater Toronto Area in connection with the incident.

Amaechi Akalezi, 41, and Olanrewaju Agbaje, 25, were both transported to Manitoba and charged with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, they appeared in court on Tuesday, September 28 and were remanded in custody.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

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  • Daniel Milligan
    Western Canada Editor Daniel Milligan was the Western Canada Editor at Narcity Canada. He was responsible for developing trending news strategies and managing a team of writers and editors. Originally from the U.K., Daniel holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in journalism from Staffordshire University. Over the past decade, he has worked on major news stories including terror attacks in London, England, and Manchester, along with royal weddings, Brexit developments, the Canadian federal election and the Nova Scotia mass shooting. Daniel was a senior editor and newsroom leader at Trinity Mirror, one of the U.K.'s largest regional news websites. He would later move to Toronto and work at Yahoo Canada and CTV News/CTV National News.

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