A 48-year-old Nigerian man, who allegedly reached out to an 82-year-old woman telling her he is her long-lost godson, has been charged with tricking the woman out of $128,500 in Trinidad.

Charleson Obasanya, of El Soccorro, has also been charged with two counts of money laundering amounting to $48,000.

He was arraigned before Port of Spain magistrate Adia Mohammed.

The woman told police she answered several phone calls and messages from a man pretending to be her long-lost godson from the United Kingdom. She then made payments totalling $284,851.10 to various bank accounts including $128,500 to a bank account held in the name of a business.

the police said bank staff became suspicious and told the woman she was possibly the victim of a scam.

He has been remanded into custody until Wednesday when the matter is scheduled to come up for hearing again.