Nigerian Socialite Nzube Ikeji Accused Of Posing As Dubai Crown Prince To Scam Romanian Woman £2.5 Million — OCCRP Traces Him Through Instagram

*Accomplice Martins Abhulimhen Exposes Scam After Fight Over Sharing Proceeds, Tells Victim “It’s A Lie From Pit Of Hell”

A Nigerian socialite, Nzube Henry Ikeji, has been accused of posing as the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to scam a Romanian woman out of millions of dollars in an elaborate romance fraud.

According to investigations by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Ikeji allegedly ran a syndicate targeting foreign women seeking love online.

The victim, identified only as Laura, said she was contacted on LinkedIn three years ago by a man claiming to be Dubai’s crown prince, who initially sought her advice on humanitarian projects before turning the interaction into a romantic relationship.

As the relationship deepened, Laura was persuaded to meet a supposed financial manager in London to help set up a Barclays account. The man, later identified by British police as Martins Abhulimhen, allegedly posed under a false name “Matthew Cros” and claimed to manage royal finances.

Laura was later given access to an online account showing about £202 million in her name. To withdraw the funds, she was repeatedly asked to pay fees, eventually sending about £2.5 million before realising the account was fake.

Internal disputes among the alleged scammers later exposed Ikeji’s identity to the victim.

Back in Nigeria, Mr Ikeji was having a bitter fight with his co-conspirators over how to share Ms Laura’s money. The Nigerian man had grown even greedier, investigations surmised.

A new message from Mr Abhulimhen, whom she had earlier met in London, heightened her suspicions. He told Ms Laura that she was under the influence of an African black magic spell cast by the man impersonating the Emirati crown prince.

“African magic juju and voodoo he has used on you to make you believe he was real prince to marry you,” Mr Abhulimhen wrote to her via an encrypted messaging app.

Ms Laura enquired about her multimillion-dollar account in London, whether it was real.

“It’s a lie from the pit of hell,” the financial manager said, exposing the antics of the Yahoo Boy.

Ms Laura sought clarification from the supposed prince, confronting him with the new information. But the fake prince dismissed her concerns, claiming that his financial adviser only wanted to destroy their relationship.

“Matthew has targeted planned (sic) against my relationship with you,” read the chat from the fake prince that Ms Laura had saved as Sheikh Hamdan.

At this point, the Romanian woman realised she was being scammed and begged for a refund.

“How can you be like this, a person with no soul,” Ms Laura wrote to the impersonator.

Feeling betrayed by Mr Ikeji’s greed in sharing the proceeds of fraud, the co-conspirator snitched and told Ms Laura that the fake prince was Nzube Henry Ikeji.

The co-conspirator further shared videos of Mr Henry’s new house, crucial information that helped journalists track him down to his sprawling mansion in an estate in Abuja.

OCCRP journalists traced him to Abuja through his social media posts showcasing a lavish lifestyle, luxury cars, designer shopping trips, and multiple mansions.

OCCRP’s Matt Sarnecki travelled to Abuja to meet his Nigerian colleague, Chikezie Omeje, who helped uncover Mr Ikeji’s whereabouts.

Mr Ikeji’s digital footprint led the OCCRP right to him, as pictures of his luxury lifestyle were splashed across his Instagram page. The identity of his wife, Confidence Amara Ikeji, was also unveiled, given that the couple often vacationed abroad, travelling in business class.

In one Instagram reel, the couple went shopping at a luxury Louis Vuitton store in the UK, with the wife dressed in fur and posing with many shopping bags.

Videos on his Instagram page show that he once travelled to London with his wife and son and bought items from the Louis Vuitton shop, including luxury wristwatches and a car.

One of the videos on his Instagram page shows him throwing bundles of naira during a performance by Davido, a Nigerian music star, in Asaba, Delta state capital.

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