A "CHARASMATIC" fraudster who wooed lonely women on the internet to trick them into handing over cash has been jailed.

Hery Agunu, 25, of Odessa Road, Leytonstone, adopted the persona of a widowed American businessman under a number of aliases to form relationships with women looking for love on dating websites and social media, such as Facebook.

He spent sometimes months grooming his victims and some were said to have fallen in love with him.

Agunu then persuaded his victims that he was having financial difficulties and asked to borrow money.

He told one women that he had won a multi-million pound contract with the Metropolitan Police to provide transport services during the Olympics and produced fake documents to back up his story.

Police were alerted to the scam when an American bank blocked a suspicious payment and reported it the authorities.

A total of 17 victims, aged between their mid fifties to late 70s, were identified in countries including America, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago.

One 69-year-old woman in the states sent Agunu £144,000, while another had to declare herself bankrupt due to the amount of money she handed over.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and last Thursday he was jailed for six years and four months.

Agunu's accomplice, Evelina Sisin, 39, of Beaconsfield Road, Edmonton, admitted laundering the ill-gotten gains and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Detective Superintendent Nick Downing, who led the investigation, said: "Agunu was a sophisticated and charismatic operator who deliberately wormed his way into way into women's affections, promising love and marriage, simply to rip them off.

"He has made thousands of pounds, and left a number of women suffering more than just financial lost.

"My advice to anyone is simple, no matter what the circumstances, never give money to anyone you meet online and cannot prove for yourself they are who they say.

"Even if they use the name of a well-known organisation, such as ours, or produce professional looking documents in an attempt to add credence to their claims. Such things are all too easy to fake and it is almost certainly not genuine."