Three
Nigerian scammers who befriended many of their victims on dating sites have
been slammed huge prison sentences by a Mississippi court, after making tens of
millions of dollars from their schemes.
Oladimeji
Seun Ayelotan, 30, was sentenced to 95 years in prison; Rasaq Aderoju Raheem,
31, was given 115 years; and Femi Alexander Mewase, 45, got 25 years behind
bars.
A
court in the Southern District of Mississippi had, in February, found them all
guilty of crimes, including mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, credit card
fraud and theft of government property.
Ayelotan
and Raheem were also found guilty of conspiracies to commit bank fraud and
money laundering.
Dating
back to at least 2001, the scammers were involved in multiple internet fraud
schemes, resulting in losses in the tens of millions, according to the
Department of Justice.
It
claimed that they would befriend women on dating sites, establish a romantic
relationship and then either get them to send money or have them participate in
fraud schemes, usually without the victim’s knowledge.
The
unsuspecting women would sometimes be required to cash counterfeit checks and
money orders; use stolen credit card details to purchase goods; and use stolen
personal information to take over victims’ bank accounts.
They
were also apparently used to launder money via Western Union and MoneyGram, and
re-package and re-ship goods obtained fraudulently.
No comments:
Post a Comment