Financial Fraud: Group Of 9 Individuals Charged In Romance Scams And Mystery Shopper Schemes

<h2>9 Defendants Charged in Chicago in International Investigation Targeting &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Romance Scams” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mystery Shopper” Schemes<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>CHICAGO — Seven Chicago-area residents are among nine individuals arrested in the United States and Nigeria as part of an international investigation into online &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;romance scams” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;mystery shopper” schemes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the Chicago-based investigation&comma; dubbed &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Operation Gold Phish&comma;” law enforcement identified a variety of cyber-enabled fraud schemes allegedly carried out by conspirators in the U&period;S&period; and Nigeria&period; One of the alleged schemes involved &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;romance scams&comma;” in which a conspirator builds trust with a victim through a purported online romance before convincing the victim to send money to a predetermined recipient&period; The conspirators initially contacted victims online via applications and websites&comma; including Match&period;com&comma; Facebook&comma; and Instagram&comma; the complaint states&period; Another alleged cyber-enabled fraud involved a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;mystery shopper” scheme&comma; in which conspirators fraudulently offered victims opportunities to work as a mystery shopper and receive commissions for evaluating retailers&period; The victim received a check through the U&period;S&period; mail with instructions to deposit it in a personal bank account&comma; withdraw the money in cash&comma; and wire it to a third party&period; The check turned out to be fake&comma; and the victims were defrauded of the wired money&comma; the charges allege&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A criminal complaint filed Dec&period; 4&comma; 2018&comma; in U&period;S&period; District Court in Chicago charged nine defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud&period; Arrests were recently carried out in Illinois&comma; Texas&comma; and Nigeria&comma; and all of the defendants are now in law enforcement custody&period; The Nigerian Economic and <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"Financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"897">Financial<&sol;a> Crimes Commission is conducting a related investigation of other individuals in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The U&period;S&period; charges were announced by John R&period; Lausch&comma; Jr&period;&comma; United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois&semi; Jeffrey S&period; Sallet&comma; Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation&semi; and Craig Goldberg&comma; Inspector-in-Charge of the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service in Chicago&period; Valuable assistance was provided by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorneys Peter S&period; Salib and Charles W&period; Mulaney represent the government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Arrested on the U&period;S&period; charges in Illinois were DANIEL SAMUEL ETA&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Captain” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Etaoko&comma;” 35&comma; of Skokie&semi; BABATUNDE LADEHINDE LABIYI&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Junior&comma;” 20&comma; of Chicago&semi; BARNABAS OGHENERUKEVWE EDJIEH&comma; 29&comma; of Chicago&semi; SULTAN OMOGBADEBO ANIFOWOSHE&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ayinde&comma;” 26&comma; of Chicago&semi; BABATUNDE IBRAHEEM AKARIGIDI&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;AK&comma;” 39&comma; of Chicago&semi; MIRACLE AYOKUNLE OKUNOLA&comma; 21&comma; of Chicago&semi; and OLUROTIMI AKITUNDE IDOWU&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Idol&comma;” 55&comma; of Chicago&period; Arrested in Texas was ADEWALE ANTHONY ADEWUMI&comma; 27&comma; of Richardson&comma; Texas&period; Arrested in Nigeria was OLANIYI ADELEYE OGUNGBAIYE&comma; also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;DonChiChi&comma;” 26&comma; of Lagos&comma; Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to the <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;romance-scammer&sol;" title&equals;"romance" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"351">romance<&sol;a> and mystery shopper schemes&comma; the complaint accuses the conspirators of engaging in various other cyber-enabled scams&comma; including investment and employment frauds&period; The conspirators also defrauded victims by targeting corporate email accounts&comma; the complaint states&period; In the email scam&comma; known as a business email compromise&comma; the conspirators fraudulently obtained usernames and passwords or sent &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;spoofing” email messages that claimed to be from a company employee&comma; instructing the victim to change the wire instructions for bank payments&period; Per the instructions given in the fraudulent emails&comma; the victims unknowingly wired funds to bank accounts controlled by the conspirators that had been opened in fictitious names utilizing fake passports&comma; the complaint states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charge in the complaint carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison&period; If convicted&comma; the Court must impose reasonable sentences under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U&period;S&period; Sentencing Guidelines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The public is reminded that charges contain only accusations and are not evidence of guilt&period; The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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