MANILA, Philippines--The tenacity of the FIlipino wife of an American judge led to the arrest of a Nigerian national accused of credit card fraud and identity theft.

Benson Umeh, 47, a Nigerian and a resident of Diliman, Quezon City, was arrested on Oct. 7 by National Bureau of Investigation Agents in a mall in Manila with the help of Editha Fones.

Fones, who is married to James Fones, a retired judge from Oklahoma, told the Inquirer that she befriended Umes in an attempt to get him to agree to meet her.

Before that, she said that she and her husband found out that someone had charged more than $18,000 to his credit card.

She added that she decided to go to all the 19 stores where the transactions which were charged to her husband?s credit card were carried out.

In each store, she was told that the purchases were made by a black man in his 40s who showed as proof of his identification a driver?s license issued by authorities in California.

In one of the stores she went to, Editha said she got a copy of a receipt which listed the cardholder?s cell phone number.

On Oct. 3, she called up the number and started befriending the English-speaking man at the other end of the line.

?He told me his name was John but he would not give me his last name. I then convinced him that we should set up an ?eyeball? (face-to-face meeting). He agreed,? Editha said.

She then sought the help of agents of the NBI Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division (AFCCD).

When agents finally arrested Umeh, he confessed to using James? credit card but refused to say how he got hold of it or the fake driver?s license.

At a press conference on Monday, Umeh, who has been in the country since 1993, said he bought the credit card and driver?s license for $300 from a Filipino named ?Lopez.? He, however, did not specify how he and Lopez met.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring pointed out that the card used by Umeh was a replacement for Fones? expired card. The bureau is still investigating how he came by the card as well as the driver?s license.

?The card may have been intercepted while in transit,? Mantaring stressed, adding that agents of the AFCCD were conducting follow-up operations against Umeh?s accomplices.

James, meanwhile, said that the only people hurt by the fraud was the credit card company which shouldered all the expenses. ?He (Umeh) comes from a country that is very, very poor and where crimes like this abound. I hold no malice against [him] but I think there is a lot more going on. He even called my bank and convinced the bank that it was me calling. Someone did a lot of background work. There are more people involved,? he told reporters as he praised his wife for all the work she did.

?I could never find a better wife than her. She is the best wife any man could ever have,? he said.