A Nigerian father of three jailed for his part in an online dating scam has been ordered to pay back over £70,000 conned from a wealthy American widow.
Jonathan Mickey, of Goodwood Drive in Swinton was jailed in July 2013 after admitting laundering over £300,000 in stolen cash for a friend.
Posing as North Sea oil worker Michael Sean, Mickey’s pal began an online love affair with the New York heiress but told her he needed the massive cash loan to buy supplies and drilling equipment, and would use the rest to fly to meet her in her home city of Buffalo.
The pair had never met, but the unnamed woman duly paid her would-be Romeo’s fee.
But after the money was paid to three Lloyds TSB accounts, bankers flagged up suspicious activity on the transactions and called in the police.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Mickey, then 36, had not messaged the woman but became caught up in the fraud when he was forced to repay debts owed to his associate, setting up bank accounts with a fake Dutch passport, withdrawing £32,175 and £48,665 of the money.
He was sentenced to 30 months in jail by Judge Martin Steiger and under UK Border Agency laws will be automatically deported when he is released.
Now under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the conman has also been ordered to pay back £79,743.
