Nigerian man imprisoned over sham marriage in Coventry

A man has been jailed for 18 months after a tip-off revealed he had paid a woman £3,000 to take part in a sham marriage.

Nigerian Olumuyiwa Otti, aged 40, admitted two charges of deception at Coventry Crown Court.

He had married a French woman at St John the Divine Church in the city in September 2009.

The UK Border Agency was tipped off that he had given a false address to the church registrar.

Otti was arrested in January when he reported to a UK Border Agency office.

After the case, a UK Border Agency officer said the French woman, when questioned, had admitted taking part in a sham marriage and that Otti had paid her to do so.

She was cautioned by Agency officials on 7 January, a spokesman said.

Otti pleaded guilty to a charge of providing a false statement to obtain a marriage certificate and seeking to obtain leave to remain in the UK by deception.

When I worked in a fraud department for a major high street financial establishment, 80% of our workload related to scams by Nigerians mainly living in London. Nowadays, although they won't admit it in public, they make it very difficult for Nigerians to open accounts with them.

Seems to be a vast cultural difference in attitudes toward fraud in our respective nations to say the least.

Anyone ever bait the Nigerian 419 scammers? - I have lots of fun doing it.