Posted on 11/24/2017 1:16:08 PM PST by TaxPayer2000
MADISON, Wis. — Two Nigerian men were each sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, and a U.S. citizen victim-turned-criminal was sentenced to five years’ probations in an international romance and cyber fraud scheme that defrauded victims from the United States and Canada.
These sentences were announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey M. Anderson, Western District of Wisconsin. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Milwaukee, and the Price County (Wisconsin) Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office, with assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and numerous law enforcement agencies in California, Indiana, Arizona, New Jersey and Iowa.
Richard Ugbah, 36, a Nigerian citizen living in Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 12 years in federal prison for wire fraud. Ugbah was also ordered to forfeit a Mercedes Benz automobile and two bank accounts.
Michael Adegoke, 34, a Nigerian citizen living in Chicago, Illinois, was also sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Jon Whipple, 60, from St. Petersburg, Florida, who was initially a victim of a similar romance fraud scheme, but later participated in the scheme by disseminating counterfeit checks in exchange for small amounts of money, was sentenced to five years of probation.
The defendants were also ordered to pay restitution to the victims, although it is unlikely victims will be repaid because most of the fraud proceeds were either spent on luxury goods or directed to individuals and accounts overseas.
From about October 2013 to August 2015, the defendants participated in a scheme to defraud victims in the United States and Canada out of more than $12.9 million.
Co-schemers targeted victims by creating fake profiles on internet dating services. Once they gained the victims’ trust, co-schemers got victims to pay so-called “inheritance taxes” on non-existent inheritances, and to send money in exchange for checks that turned out to be fraudulent.
Although Judge Peterson found that the intended loss in the romance fraud scheme was $12.9 million, he noted that the amount was likely understated given the scope of the scheme and the number of victims.
I’m sure glad my Russian girlfriend doesn’t scam
lol I just sent my Russian online fiance a pile of money, was that a bad idea???
These are Nigerians - living in the United States. Scamming has to be a national product of Nigeria.
I wonder if they will be deported on finishing their sentences? They would not be too pleased on gracing Nigeria with their parasitic presence.
[fraud scheme that defrauded victims from the United States]
What about....oh, wait, the public face of that Nigerian fraud scheme is a Kenyan.
I know someone who had their mother scammed from someone from Guatamala.
Very similar story.
Or at least their largest export product.
Jon Whipple, 60, from St. Petersburg, Florida, who was initially a victim of a similar romance fraud scheme, but later participated in the scheme by disseminating counterfeit checks in exchange for small amounts of money,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They finally caught up with Mr. Whipple, that old reprobate that has a toilet paper squeezing fetish.
What is with all these whacky nigerians? Do they have fraud genes or something???
The society is corrupt from top to bottom. Business is corrupt, the government is corrupt, everything is corrupt and when you grow up in such a society corruption is normal business. It is also tribal and all loyalty and honor is local.
I worked there a couple of years. It was and is a hell hole.
For a good tie, dial 419
time, not tie. fooking autocorrect.
More detail here:
http://www.superiortelegram.com/news/wisconsin/4363704-three-sentenced-cyber-fraud-schemes-involving-more-17m
If anybody is familiar with this type of situation, please help me out here. A neighbor of mine who is 67 has been dating a man for 3 months. Something is just not right. He recently took her to her bank and opened up a joint account with her and he immediately deposited quite a bit of money, more than $50,000, he said to show her how much he trusts and loves her. She said he showed proof to the bank manager that he had over $1,000,000 in assets. I have tried to talk to her to get her to remove her name from that joint account by telling her that he could push through counterfeit checks and she would be on the hook for them if he bolted. She thinks she’s in love and I just don’t know what to tell her. Why would somebody open a joint account with a stranger that they barely know? What could he possibly be gaining and what could he do to hurt her by doing this?
Most likely running the same scam a gold digging crack ho pulled on my dad.
He will get her to put his name on her accounts then drain them dry.
As Dad found out, once their name is on the accounts it isn’t a crime for them to clean it out. On top of that,any joint account she will be responsible for if he starts writing bad checks out of. Just because he put money in an account doesn’t mean he will leave it there
Now, if one of the two were the vice-president of Nigeria, or a Nigerian Prince, I would see the logic in participating.....
A Nigerian General sent me an email awhile back, wondering if I could be trusted with $100 million dollars.
I told him my honesty limit was $100,000. Anything over that and I could not be trusted.
He never emailed me back.
Look, EVERYONE, every foreign connection, including foreign students, wants either citizenship or your money. Period.
Anyone and everyone gullible enough to think that it is somehow an honest connection will get ripped off or ditched.
These guys are very persuasive one guy swore up and down to her he was Italian - I lived in Italy - I heard him on speakerphone and he was straight up African and called his ass on it.
Their MO and : Orphaned in Eastern Europe, adopted by uncle or aunt and raised in Europe, widowed, raising a daughter and owns a business worth millions.
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