Two Ottawa men are facing charges, and Ottawa police are searching for a third suspect, in connection to an online dating scam that attempted to extort money from men who thought they would be meeting a woman in the west end.
Ottawa police say the charges relate to a series of extortion incidents that occurred through an online dating scam since the beginning of August.
“Where men are lured to locations in the west end of the city with the promise that they will be meeting a woman,” said police in a statement Thursday morning.
“When the victims go to the agreed location, they are met by suspects who intimidate and threaten them to provide money or be exposed publicly on the pretext that they were communicating with an underage girl.”
Omer Ahmed, 24, and Abu-Obaidah Moalimishak, 23, have been charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, intimidation by violence, kidnapping, and extortion.
Police are also looking to locate Guled Jinje, 24, of Ottawa, who is wanted for robbery, kidnapping, extortion and harassment by means of repeated telecommunications.
Investigators believe that there may be more victims and are asking that anyone who is the victim of this scam to contact police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Robbery Unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5116.
