Two men have appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday 13 March, where they have both been jailed for 27 months for money laundering and fraud offences.

Henry Nimo (38) of Belle Vue Road in Basingstoke and James Ashong (40) of Burney Road in Kings Lynn, Norfolk were sentenced for the following fraud offences:

Henry Nimo was sentenced for money laundering, fraud by false representation and making / supplying article for use in fraud.

James Ashong was sentenced for money laundering.

This follows a complex and lengthy investigation by PSI Dan Culling from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit, in which it was found that Nimo and Ashong were linked to various overseas Romance fraud suspects targeting UK based victims in a romance fraud scam.

Romance Fraud often targets vulnerable or elderly victims, usually over a long period.  The principal offenders create false online personas and build an online relationship with the intent to defraud victims of large sums of money. These relationships can become romantic after trust has been gained. Eventually money may be requested for any number of fictional and emotive reasons.

One victim in this case was targeted on Instagram with the fraudsters pretending to be a Danish entrepreneur. The victim was later deceived with the use of deepfake technology, allowing the offenders to make phone calls to the victim in a voice that matched the images of the man she had been sent.

Both Nimo and Ashong were found to be involved in the UK footprint of securing this money and sending it overseas to contacts thought to be operating from Ghana.

Henry Nimo set up a business called Henza Ltd, which carried out no legitimate business and was used to launder the proceeds of his criminal activity.  This included using a forger to create false invoices on demand.

Between 2020 and 2021 bank accounts linked to Henza Ltd were used to launder over £120,000 linked to confirmed Romance Fraud victims in the UK. Additional funds into Henza Ltd were connected to international romance fraud victims.

Attempts were made to conceal this by using multiple third-party bank accounts, including James Ashong’s account, to a value in excess of £30,000. Ashong had himself also received money directly from one of the same victims sending money to Henza Ltd.

Ashong in turn spent some of the money on high value designer goods and passed payments through multiple accounts. In total, over £77,000 was confirmed to have been sent overseas as part of the money laundering efforts.

Nimo also used an overseas forger to create false ‘Fit to Fly’ Covid-19 certificates in the name of the laboratory Anglia DNA.  Nimo had these false documents created, knowing that they would lead to potential financial losses, and potentially to catastrophic public health risks by enabling fraudulent travel.

Police Staff Investigator Dan Culling said, “As with many types of fraud, romance fraud is often an incredibly complex crime to investigate, and this is a really important result in our work to target offenders.

“The perpetrators of these types of crimes will use many clever methods to deceive their victims and cover their tracks, and this is becoming increasingly difficult for potential victims to detect due to the progression of AI, deepfakes and voice changing applications, which are easily accessible to the offenders.

“It cannot be emphasised enough how important it is to stay vigilant when talking to people online. These offenders are sophisticated criminals who will use all the tools in their arsenal in order to gain your trust and get you to part from your money.

“Ashong and Nimo, through their connection to a variety of scams and fraudulent activities, have knowingly cheated people out of hundreds of thousands of pounds and deserve to face justice for their crimes.

“Fraud can have a devastating impact on the victim, both financial and personal, and can destroy lives. We encourage everyone to read the prevention advice on both our website and from Report Fraud so that you can best protect yourself from being targeted and know the signs to look out for. Whilst many fraudsters will target the elderly and vulnerable, anyone can be a victim, and this is becoming even more prevalent due to advances in technology.”

For more information and crime prevention advice relating to fraud, visit our website at Advice about fraud | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

Or, go online to https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/

Report Fraud is run by the City of London Police working alongside Report Fraud Analysis Services, who are responsible for the assessment of reports made and to ensure that your fraud reports reach the right place.

They also provide the Report Fraud Victim Service which offers dedicated, and specialist help to victims of cyber crime and fraud.