An American woman who was lured to Nigeria by a man she met on Facebook has been rescued after spending more than a year in captivity, according to the local police.
A police spokesman, Frank Mba, said that the 34-year-old man had persuaded the woman to come to Nigeria “under the pretext of love and deceitful marriage”.
The woman, a retired civil servant from Washington DC, arrived in Nigeria in February 2019, and married the suspect the following month. But he then held her captive in a hotel and extorted $48,000 from her.
“He also forcefully collected and took control of her credit and debit cards as well as the operation of her bank accounts including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances over the period of 15 months,” Mba said.
According to a tweet from the Nigerian police, the suspect also used the victim’s identity “as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies”.
Officers rescued the victim in the Meran area of Lagos state after they were tipped off by “a patriotic and civic-minded Nigerian”, the police said.
Last month, Nigeria police said they rescued a Philippine woman who was similarly lured to the country by a supposed lover she had met on Facebook.
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