A 34-year-old Nigerian woman from East Dulwich woman who was involved in a £40,000 money laundering scam was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, September 16th.
Olamide Aina was found guilty at the court on Monday, August 8th of two counts of money laundering. She was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years for one count, and six months imprisonment suspended for two years for the second, both to run concurrently.
She is required to undertake 200 hours unpaid work.
Aina allowed her account to be used as part of a scam in February 2013. The first victim, from Morocco, purchased two printing machines which were advertised on a fraudulent website and the £37,945.18 paid was eventually siphoned into Aina's account.
The second offence concerned the fraudulent sale of a lawnmower in July 2013. On this occasion a 29-year-old man lost £3,675 with the money again being found to have been paid into one of Aina's many accounts. Neither victim received the goods they paid for.
Aina was arrested on 15 July 2013 after detectives traced the bank records which were used to funnel off the fraudulent transactions. Police do not know who orchestrated the scam.
DC Michael Esangbedo, the investigating officer for Southwark Borough CID said:
"The investigation was complicated as Aina tried to hide the money trail. It was a well planned and complicated scam. Aina was no doubt motivated by greed and has never shown any remorse for her actions."
Source: Metropolitan Police UK
