Slidell police in Louisiana arrested a 67-year-old white man named Michael Neu on Thursday for his involvement in a "Nigerian prince" scheme, following an 18-month investigation which suspects that Neu served as a middle man in hundreds of financial transactions made across the United States by phone and online.
As reported by The New York Times, authorities believe Neu would acquire personal information and nearly $100 million from people and then wire it to his connects in the Country of Nigeria. Since many of their leads have been linked to people who live outside of the United States, the investigation is ongoing.
Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal issued a warning to anyone in danger of falling into a similar trap. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," he said. "Never give out personal information over the phone, through e-mail, cash checks for other individuals, or wire large amounts of money to someone you don’t know. 99.9 percent of the time, it’s a scam."
Neu faces 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering.
