A ruling at a court in the United States has imposed a 13-year imprisonment to two young Nigerians for their roles in online romance scams on an elderly woman which caused her death.
The two convicts: Chinnagorom Onwumere and Stephen Anagor were held for trial at a district where the Presiding Judge, Clifton Coker, found them, alongside a Sudanese associate, Salma Abdulkareeem, culpable of the act and sentenced them accordingly.
The lawbreakers were said to have pleaded guilty to charges ranging from conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated stalking resulting in death alongside aiding and abetting money laundering, thereby, ensuring their contravention of the stipulated laws.
At the proceedings held during early hours of Wednesday morning, Anagor was said to have recruited Onwumere alongside his wife and Abdulkareem to assist a relative in Nigeria in carrying out romance scams perpetuated on victims in the US, posing as celebrities engaged in online romantic relationships with famous figures.
Anagor and Onwumere, who were said to have met during a military training in South Carolina in June 2023, exploited the victims and extracted large sums of money under various forms of pretences, as stated by Justice Coker.
”Members of the conspiracy would then engage in various devices to obtain from the various victims, such as the need for help with taxes on luxury vehicles, background investigation fees needed for employment, membership fees that would permit unique access to the celebrities,” Coker proceeded to say.
”On multiple occasions, victims were told that the scammers were with federal law enforcement and had to pay fees and fines to halt investigations initiated by the celebrities or their management,” the judge added.
The court ordered that the violators will also serve a further five years of supervised release after completing their prison terms and must pay $388,500 in restitution to their victims.
