Eluma Francis Chukwubueze, 37, was arrested at a hotel on Bui Vien Street in District 1.
According to police, he used different names and masqueraded as a rich foreign man.
He flirted with Vietnamese women on Facebook and promised to send them gifts from foreign countries.
But he asked his victims to transfer “shipping fees” into bank accounts he appointed.
In the latest case, a 48-year-old woman in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District was asked to send him $250 in exchange for a gift set of an iPhone 5s, a camera and a laptop.
On May 20, the woman named M. sent him the money.
But then his accomplice, who impersonated as an airport officer, later asked her to send an additional $2,500 as a fine as he said the gift consignment was being held in Malaysia.
M. felt suspicious and called the police, who later arrested the Nigerian man.
Chukwubueze told police he earned around $7,000 in the last four months using the tricks. It is not immediately clear what has happened to his accomplice and how many Vietnamese women he succeeded in cheating.
Such cases have become increasingly common in Vietnam.
Police in Hanoi said they have received a number of complaints from Vietnamese women who claimed that they had been cheated out of money by foreign men on Facebook.
Most of the women are single and were victims of almost the same trick, according to the police.
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Diaspora