Christopher Awonubi, a Lagos resident, has narrated how Alexander Rudsky, a fraudster who targets West Africans by posing as a car dealer, scammed him of $7,525.

Awonubi told FIJ that he met Rudsky online in 2020 after coming across one of his adverts offering cars to West Africans.

He emailed Rudsky after seeing the advert, and they soon began communicating via WhatsApp. After some time, Awonubi told Rudsky he wanted to purchase a 2012 Toyota Highlander.

“Rudsky gave me an invoice. The price was $7,525. I paid him on February 25, 2020, through a bank transfer. Rudsky acknowledged the payment. He told me the seaport was closed because of the then-rising wave of COVID-19 and that he had kept the car in a garage,” Awonubi told FIJ.

READ MORE: ‘US-Based’ Scammers Old Merchants Targeting Africans With Secondhand Cars

“However, after the lockdown was eased, Rudsky stopped communicating with me. When all efforts to reach him failed, I reported the case to the Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3), a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

Awonubi said the IC3 referred the matter to the FBI, who investigated and charged Rudsky to court. Months later, he said, he asked the lawyer handling the case if he could get a refund, but the lawyer said Awonubi’s name was not on the charge list, adding that he had sued on behalf of victims presented to him by the Florida Attorney General.

“I then got in touch with the Florida Attorney General, but they redirected me to the FBI. I wrote to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) about the matter, but they said they couldn’t intervene because the case did not originate in Nigeria,” said a frustrated Awonubi.

READ MORE: ALERT: Elusive International Fraudster Targeting Africans Through Multiple US Car Auction Websites

FIJ contacted Rudsky via the same WhatsApp number previously used to reach him in 2024, but the person on the line claimed to be someone else.

In 2024, FIJ published a report about Old Merchants, one of Rudsky’s companies, which he used in defrauding a Nigerian of $12,720. When FIJ investigated the New Jersey address on the invoice Rudsky sent, it turned out to be a restaurant.

READ MORE: Florida-Based Man Fingered in Decade-Long Auto Scams Against West Africans

In another 2024 report, FIJ exposed Rudsky’s fraudulent car business model, which he has used for over 10 years, to defraud unsuspecting West African customers. Rudsky’s strategy is simple. He advertises himself to West Africans as a dealer in secondhand cars using many names, one of which is Old Merchants. Once buyers pay for a vehicle, he stops communicating with them.

Back in 2014, a Ghanaian reported on the Complaints Board website that Rudsky scammed him out of $11,200. After his friend paid on his behalf, Rudsky stopped responding to their queries. Zakaria Abukari, another victim from Ghana, recounted how his initial successful transaction with Rudsky turned sour in December 2014, when he paid $10,500 for a car that never arrived.

FIJ has found that although Rudsky lists various addresses for his scam companies in states like Texas and New Jersey, he resides in Florida. Attorneys with the US Department of Justice in Florida, such as Jonathan Stratton, have assisted some of Rudsky’s victims in recovering their funds. The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, as suggested by the Complaints Board, can also help victims seek justice.