Guildford pensioner Gareth Jones was a victim of an international lottery scam which left him about £80,000 out of pocket.

Thankfully, the Nigerian man Victor Ifejika who was behind the scam, has now been sent to prison after a verdict at Guildford Crown Court for conning the pensioner.

42 year-old Ifejika was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of making false representations.

Ifejika from the Nigerian capital, Lagos, was caught by police in London back in March with £5,000 of Mr Jones’s money in his possession.

Mr Jones gave Ifejika £2,500 in exchange for receiving his lottery win which he was led to believe was almost £1.5 million.  Ifejika gave Mr Jones back a silver case which he claimed contained nearly £1.5 million of US dollars, however, the case didn’t contain any money and was stuffed with scraps of paper and cotton wool.

The scam started two years ago when Mr Jones received a letter in the post informing him that he was the winner of £1,375,800 on the online ‘Elmundo’ Spanish lottery.

Prosecutor Jill Beale said, “At the time he received this letter, he had some financial problems, was not feeling at his best and believed this [the lottery win] to be the case.”

“He was asked for some money to pay for taxes, security, stamp duty and various things he was told were necessary before he could take his winnings.”

In March this year a meeting was arranged between Mr Jones and Ifejika at a London hotel.  Ifejika introduced himself with the false name, Melvyn Smith.

Mr Jones was given the silver case he thought contained his winnings in exchange for £2,500.  Ifejika reassured him he would receive the key to open the case after further checks had been made.

When Mr Jones got back to Guildford, his now ex-wife Eliane Paris-Jones got very suspicious and she informed the family solicitor and Surrey Police.

Mr Jones then returned to London a week later to pay Ifejika an extra £11,500 for final security checks, despite his wife’s suspicions that this was a scam.

Luckily for him, the police had begun a surveillance operation with the consent of Mr Jones’s family.  They tracked his journey to London for the second meeting.

The Surrey pensioner tried to withdraw the £11,500 from a bank, but was only able to take out £5,000.

Ms Beale said, “The police noticed that the defendant took him around various locations on a fairly extensive jaunt.  All the time the box was with them.”

Ifejika finally led Mr Smith to a hotel in Greenwich, where he produced $800 which he said had come from the locked case.

The Nigerian then cheekily left Mr Smith in the hotel, telling him he would be back soon to give him the key to the case.

The police then arrested Ifejika after he boarded a bus travelling along Bromley Road.

At Guildford Crown Court, Judge Brock told Ifejika he would be required to serve half of his prison sentence followed by immediate deportation after being released.

Mr Jones gave Ifejika £7,500 in total from the two meetings.  However, the pensioner lost nearly £80,000 in the duration of the two-year scam as he took out bank loans to satisfy Ifejika’s demands. 
 
Guildford pensioner Gareth Jones was a victim of an international lottery scam which left him about £80,000 out of pocket.

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