Three Nigerian scammers have bagged a collective jail term of 235 years in the United States of America (USA) for defrauding victims they met on dating sites of tens of millions of dollars.
Infosecurity Magazine reports that Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30, was sentenced to 95 years in prison; Rasaq Aderoju Raheem, 31, was sentenced to 115 years while Femi Alexander Mewase, 45, got 25 years in prison, all totaling 235 years in prison.
The trio who were tried and found guilty by a court in the Southern District of Mississippi committed crimes such as identity theft, mail, credit card, and wire fraud; and theft of government property even as Ayelotan and Raheem were also found guilty of conspiracies to commit bank fraud and money laundering.
The scammers have reportedly been carrying out their operations as far back as 2001 and were part of a string of scams against Americans, facilitated by internet communications.
Their victims were promised a massive amount in return for making some payments into the scammers’ accounts even as they reportedly befriend women on dating sites, start a romantic relationship and then either get them to send money or have them participate in fraud schemes, usually without the victim’s knowledge.
Sometimes the unsuspecting women were made to cash counterfeit checks or use stolen credit cards to buy things and the scammers used them to launder money through Western Union and others.
They were also accused of running romance stings to steal from lonely people, shipping fraud, running fake work-from-home businesses, check fraud, and hijacking other people’s bank accounts and credit cards to divert funds.
The case which is still ongoing already have 21 defendants charged in the case, 12 of whom have pleaded guilty to charges involving conspiracy and 11 of whom have been sentenced.
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