Two Nigerians residing in the United States, Olutayo Sunday Ogunlaja (39) and Abel Adeyi Daramola (37), could each face up to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of orchestrating a $560,000 romance scam.
U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez and FBI Special Agent Raul Bujanda in a statement disclosed the duo’s conviction following a four-day trial and less than three hours of jury deliberation.
According to prosecutors, the scheme began in January 2016 when Ogunlaja and Daramola, along with accomplices, created a fake identity under the name “Glenn Brown” on the dating platform eHarmony.com.
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Using this persona, they cultivated a romantic relationship with a victim in Albuquerque, New Mexico, deceiving the individual into sending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The statement revealed that the victim was manipulated into believing their financial support was crucial for “Glenn Brown” to complete a construction project in Malaysia and return to the U.S. Between January 2016 and April 2017, the victim wired approximately $560,000 to various accounts in the United States, Canada, and Malaysia.
The statement added that on September 27, 2016, the victim transferred $28,000 to an account registered to “Daramola Cars” at Woodforest Bank, as directed by the scammers.
Furthermore, the statement revealed that from there, $18,000 was sent to a seafood importer in Denmark, while a $14,000 check was issued.
Additionally, the statement added that despite Daramola’s denial of involvement, evidence from text and WhatsApp messages on his phone confirmed his role in providing bank accounts for the fraudulent operations.
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Further investigations uncovered that Ogunlaja used his Bank of America account to receive fraudulent funds. On two occasions in March 2016, the victim deposited $20,000 into Ogunlaja’s account, which he later withdrew and transferred to Daramola’s account.
This was the two time barely three months Nigerians will be convicted, in November 2024 there was a similar case, where Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu, were sentenced to a combined 30-year prison term for defrauding U.S. citizens of $3.5 million under the pretext of assisting with supposed inheritances.
