An acclaimed gospel singer who used a dating site to steal more than £120,000 from lonely women by posing as a pilot, oil executive and grieving widower has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Conman Oluwamayola Ajayi, 31, preyed on four single women on popular dating website Match.com using a series of aliases and outlandish stories to fleece them of their cash.He even sent email threats, purportedly from a captor, claiming he had been kidnapped and would be killed if a ransom was not paid.
Ajayi, who was nominated for best international act at the 2011 Gospel Music Awards under his stage name MaioJoe, was jailed for conspiracy to defraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court with Judge Sarah Paneth saying that it was clear he intended to defraud his victims 'for much more money' than he did.
His victims, who all live in America and Canada, were ‘completely taken in’ by his elaborate lies. They were left humiliated and some were financially ruined by the scam, which ran between November 2009 and August 2010.
One victim handed over more than $125,000 (now £78,662) from her late husband’s life savings and dead mother’s estate, which she had earmarked for retirement. Ajayi pocketed around $30,000 (£18,873) from another internet lover, leaving her in financial dire straits.
The singer also posed as a project manager in the oil and gas industry to fleece $7,000 (£4,404) from his final victim, telling her he needed the cash for expenses including a ‘Crude Oil Lifting Licence’.
He told all but one of the women that he was a white widower with children from Britain called Mark West, who was currently living in the US.
Ajayi funnelled his gains through false bank accounts, mainly using the fictional identity of Jose Fernando Rodrigues-Guedes.
Ajayi was arrested last August at the home he shares with his wife in Chadwell Heath, Essex.
He was unanimously convicted by a jury on all counts after a trial after admitting a single count of possessing a false identity document with intent.
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