How a Nigerian extorted over $1,200 from a Jehovah’s Witness lover he met online

A 31-year-old Nigerian has been remanded in prison custody for uploading sexually explicit videos of a Jehovah’s Witness lady.

The accused, Paul Efeturi Niboro, also known as Paul Kwame Niboro, reportedly lured the lady in question into a romantic relationship through an online dating website.

The victim, a 40-year-old lady, is said to be an African-American who resides in Brandywine in the United States of America (USA).

He has to answer to three counts of defrauding by pretence, three counts of sexual extortion, a count of publication of obscene material, forgery, non-consensual sharing of intimate images and deceit of a public officer.

Niboro pleaded not guilty to the charges before an Accra High Court.

The facts before the court suggest that on August 28, 2023, the complainant joined an online dating website called ‘JWMatch’.

To ensure only Jehovah’s Witnesses were on JWMatch, persons desiring to join the group mandatorily answered key questions about the JW faith.

According to the prosecution, the accused, seeking to find a victim to defraud, also joined the website with the name Paul Linux and claimed to profess the Jehovah’s Witness faith.

On his JWMatch profile, he falsely stated that he had been a JW for about six to 10 years. His residential address was Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The prosecution said the accused, despite having two baby mamas and a Canadian wife, told the complainant that he needed a partner, “a wife that’s full of romance, love and intimacy”.

On September 16, 2023, Niboro contacted the complainant on the JWMatch website and proposed a romantic relationship with her after several chats.

He told the complainant that he worked with IBM as a Cyber Security Analyst in Canada.

When the complainant expressed doubts, the accused indicated that he has permanent residence in Canada and “sent IBM pay slip showing a net salary of $3,616.04, as proof of his employment with IBM.”

Fast forward, their chats moved from the ‘JWMatch website’ to the WhatsApp platform where the accused used a Canadian telephone number +143879592889.

One day, out of the blue, the accused informed the complainant that he was in Nigeria as he suddenly had to fly out of Canada to Nigeria to attend to his sick mother, who needed kidney surgery.

The accused later informed the complainant that he had to change the Canadian telephone line to avoid being charged telephone bills on his Canadian telephone number.

This act was ostensibly to deceive the complainant into thinking that he was a resident of Canada when he was actually living at Techiman.

He then gave the complainant a new number, +234 916 4300784, on which they could communicate.

The facts reveal they chatted frequently and, on some occasions, engaged in sexual encounters over the phone.

On October 13, 2023, the accused engaged the complainant on the JWMatch website and informed her that he was stranded because he had run out of money.

The complainant suggested that the accused secure a loan from his bankers in Canada.

However, the accused said that because he was currently out of Canada, he could not secure a loan.

In October of that same month, the accused, in another attempt, informed the complainant that he had an online business meeting with his colleagues at his workplace in Canada.

He mentioned that he needed internet data, which he could not purchase himself as he had expended all his money on his sick mother.

Moved by the situation this time, the complainant sent him $75 via Skrill money transfer for data and groceries.

About 18 days after the transfer, the accused, in a third attempt, told the complainant that he used his car as collateral to secure a loan to cover the rest of the cost incurred during his mother’s treatment. He claimed he had repaid the loan, leaving an outstanding balance of $320.

“The accused person expressed fears of losing the vehicle if the loan was not repaid and used that as a pretext to request a loan of $320 from the complainant to reclaim his car from the lender.

“Based on this, the complainant further parted with $320 to the accused via Skrill money transfer on November 12, 2023, which the accused person acknowledged on WhatsApp chats,” as contained in the facts.

His numerous attempts did not end there.

On November 18, 2023, just a week after the receipt of the $320, the accused person once again came with another story of having been involved in an accident in Nigeria.

He claimed that the accident on November 17, 2023, left him with a broken arm and a ‘smashed’ head.

Niboro further claimed that he had been referred for MRI and DEXA scans, which he would do in Ghana, where the tests cost $680.

Later that same day, the accused requested a loan from the complainant on the pretext that he had run out of money and would die if the complainant failed to come to his aid.

This time, the complainant, who did not believe his story, refused to lend him the money.

He then threatened to expose her.

The prosecution said the accused had recorded the previous cyber-sex encounters they had over the phone, which he threatened her with.

The complainant was devastated to learn that the accused person had recorded their cybersex sessions without her knowledge.

To convince the complainant that he was serious about the threat, Niboro threatened to publish the videos in New York Times Square, stream them, and upload them to every website.

He even said he would go further and pay bloggers to spread the word more if she did not give him the loan.

To prove that he truly had the videos, the accused person sent a sexually explicit photograph of the complainant, which he culled from the videos.

After seeing the explicit photograph, the complainant, who felt threatened and ashamed, pleaded with the accused not to publish the video.

But the accused demanded payment for the purported scans, or he would act on his threat.

Out of fear, the complainant agreed to pay $700.

After the complainant unsuccessfully attempted to send the money via Skrill money transfer, the accused person pestered the complainant with calls and messages until she sent the $700 via remit money transfer to the accused person’s Momo number, 0540890276, on November 20, 2023.

According to the prosecution, the accused received the money in three tranches (GH¢119.80, GH¢64,600.00 GH¢3,335.00) and acknowledged receipt.

The next day, November 21, 2023, he informed the complainant that he was in Ghana for the scan.

However, the persistent requests for money made the complainant feel defrauded, and she decided to end the relationship.

The accused refused to end things and further threatened to post all the videos he had on a pornographic site for streaming.

He later came up with another story that a colleague from his office at IBM, whom he had exposed for selling client information, had hacked into his phone and taken all the sexually explicit videos of her.

Niboro said his colleague was demanding $5,000 before he would return the videos. The accused said he had already paid his colleague $2,900, leaving an outstanding $2,100.

He requested the balance from the complainant.

The complainant refused to send further monies and blocked the accused person’s number on WhatsApp and all social media platforms.

Urgent need to adopt a different strategy

When the accused realised he had been blocked, he resorted to emails.

He sent evidence of sexually explicit videos he had posted on pornographic websites and shared with her friends on Facebook with a threat to distribute to more than 700 persons.

Niboro went as far as adding the complainant’s 16-year-old daughter to the distribution list.

“To immediately pull down the sexually explicit videos, the complainant negotiated with the accused person to pay $200 with a $100 to be paid immediately. She thus immediately sent $100 via Remitly to the same momo number,” the prosecution said.

On December 8, 2023, the complainant who could no longer contain the threats of the accused person engaged a private investigator who contacted the Cyber Security Authority and the Ghana Police Service.

Investigations into the case thus commenced, and in the course of investigations, “the accused persisted with threats to broadcast the sexually explicit videos if the money was not paid.”

“Consequently, on December 18, 2023, the complainant requested his banking details and transferred $50 into a GT Bank account provided by the accused.

“When the accused person presented himself at the bank to cash the money, he was arrested by the police on December 22, 2023, the court documents stated.

Police Revelations

• Investigations disclosed that the accused has been living in Ghana for the past 10 years and has not travelled to Canada or Nigeria since September 2023, around the time he was chatting with the complainant.
• The accused was not an employee of IBM, and the pay slip he sent to the complainant was forged.
• The phone number 0540890276 used by the accused to receive the transfers from the complainant had the name of Helen Amponsah.
• Investigations further disclosed a surgical gauze with red colour stains, which confirmed the accused person’s false representation he made to the complainant when he claimed he was involved in an accident.
• A search in the house of the accused discovered a Nigerian passport with the number A12502731 bearing the name of the accused, Paul Efeturi Niboro.
• Bank records of the accused person disclosed that he used a National Health Insurance card bearing the name Paul Kwame Niboro to open his GT Bank account and represented that he was a Ghanaian born in Kumasi while his passport stated that he was a Nigerian born in Warri.
• An electronic search of the accused person’s phone revealed an IBM pay slip in the name of Mike Moore and other IBM materials that the accused person altered to bear his name and sent to the complainant to convince her that he worked with IBM Canada.
• The search also revealed pictures and videos of the Black Mazda Demo salon he used to convince the complainant to part with $320.
• The sexually explicit videos and pictures of the complainant were discovered on the accused person’s phone.
• He had a recording of himself posting this sexually explicit content on two pornographic websites which were traced by investigators to the websites and verified as having been posted by the accused persons with the title “JwSexuJamie Wallop” which had garnered significant public views.
• Screenshots showing friends of the complainant to whom the accused person had sent sexually explicit videos were also discovered.

The case has since been adjourned to May 16 for continuation.

The prosecution has also been directed to file the necessary disclosures before the next court date.