A Nigerian Prince is facing charges after promising job seekers employment and scamming them out of placement fees.
Daily Mail UK reports that Nigerian prince Osmond Eweka is accused of scamming job seekers in New York out of thousands of dollars by promising them high-paying jobs
Prosecutors said Eweka and his friend Kamel McKay would invite their victims to their office for an interview and then have them pay a fee, ranging between $300 and $700, but failed to produce any jobs.
According to court documents, Eweka and McKay used office space in the Empire State Building and another building on fifth avenue to run two bogus employment agency firms, Stamford Consulting Firm and Howard Consulting Group.
They also used fake names, according to the New York Post. Eweka went by the name Sean Jackson and McKay reportedly used the name Tyrone Hayes.
Prosecutor Catherine McCaw said they told victims the fee would cover the cost of uniforms, training and background checks. They also said that paying the high fee would result in higher-paying jobs.
‘But in reality, there was no such job,’ she said at Eweka’s arraignment on Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
After collecting the money, the men would send the job seekers to different businesses, where they were turned away by employers who weren’t expecting them.
Prosecutors said Eweka and McKay pocketed $54,000 in fees from the scam.