Nigerian jailed in UK for £2.7m lotto scam

From DailyMail,
A Nigerian who returned to Britain after being deported has been jailed for his role in a £2.7million lottery scam.

Osas Odia, 33, was booted out of the UK in 2005 after immigration officials discovered he was using a forged stamp in his passport to work. However, the management graduate was allowed to return on a marriage visa after marrying a British nurse.

Upon returning he joined a group of Nigerian fraudsters who sent thousands of letters to people across the world telling them they had won millions on the lottery.

The scam letters told readers they would have to send money to 'unlock' their huge windfall.

One victim, Betty McClellan, 62, wired £264,000 to the fraudsters to release her 'lottery win'. When it never arrived, Mrs McClellan was shot dead by her husband Hersey McClellan, 63, in their Los Angeles home in 2010. He then turned the gun on himself.

Meanwhile an elderly woman living in Bristol lost £312,000 after she wrongly believed she had won £1.8million on the Australian lottery.

Police identified 13 victims worldwide, who each lost an average of £207,000, after they became convinced they were due huge pay-outs.

Odia's role in the conspiracy was to launder some of the money which was sent by the victims through three bank accounts in his name.

The Nigerian pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder criminal property and was jailed for two years on Friday.

The plot's ringleaders, who spent the money on property, were jailed at an earlier hearing for conspiracy to defraud.

Obinnam Nwokolo, 37, of Erith, was jailed for six years and four months and student Uchechhukwu Onuoha, 40, also of Erith, was jailed for five years and two months.

Another money launderer, Sergius Ene, 44, of Ilford, was jailed for 16 months.