A Vietnam court has sentenced two Nigerians to a combined jail termed of 28 years for scamming the country’s women they befriended online.

The trial of Ihugba Augustine Chinonso, 32, and Onu Chinonso Peter, 33, lasted five days, with the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentencing them on July 16.

Chinonso bagged 16 years in jail while Peter got 12 years imprisonment for “appropriating property through swindling.”

The court also sentenced six accomplices to jail terms ranging from eight to 20 years in prison for the same offence and for “faking a seal, the document of the organizing body.”

READ ALSO! AT THIS POINT WE’RE GETTING HIM HELP! Why Harrysong wrote ‘alarming Instagram post’ – Manager

The court also ordered the criminals to jointly compensate the victims for all damages.

According to the indictment, the Nigerian men set up fake accounts on social networks, befriended Vietnamese women and promised to send them cash and expensive gifts.

Their Vietnamese accomplices then pretended to be employees from delivery companies, customs officers or police officers and demanded that the women transfer delivery fees, customs fees or fines to their bank accounts.

After each successful scam, the Vietnamese accomplices got to keep 15-25 per cent of the money, while the rest was sent to Chinonso.

The gang was busted after one of their victims, Chau, reported her case to the police in February 2016.

Chau said she was befriended by a foreigner claiming to be British on Facebook in January. The man promised to send her $100,000 in cash and other expensive gifts a month later.

In early February, a woman claiming to be from a delivery company called Chau, asking her to pay a $1,200 delivery fee and a VND80 million ($3,500) customs fee for a gift from overseas, which she paid. The woman then claimed she had not received the money and had Chau send her another VND112 million.

When a man claiming to be an officer from Hanoi’s economic police told her to pay a VND200 million fine as her package contained a large amount of cash, Chau became suspicious and approached the municipal police for help.

The police quickly identified and arrested the fake police officer and his wife.

READ ALSO! CLASSY STAR BOY! Fans excited as Wizkid and Naomi Campbell’s photos trend online

Following further investigations, police uncovered the entire gang and concluded that in addition to Chau, they had also scammed another 10 women out of nearly VND3 billion ($130,000).

At the trial on Monday, most of the defendants admitted to their crimes. Chinonso, however, claimed his confession as obtained under torture. The court dismissed the claim.