Nigeria man scams US residents $3.4m

Olaniyi Nasiru Ojikutu, a 39-year-old Nigerian, was convicted of participating in a multi-year romance scam and was given a sentence of nearly seven and a half years in a U.S. jail.

Ojikutu, a permanent resident of the US, allegedly opened roughly 25 bank accounts under his own name, a fictitious name, and the name of a shell company, through which nearly $3.4 million in proceeds from fraud were moved.

They revealed that Ojikutu and nine other people were charged in Operation Gold Phish, a Chicago-based sting operation that uncovered cybercrimes that preyed on senior citizens.

Ojikutu was charged with wire fraud in the scheme in 2019 and received an 88-month prison term on Wednesday, according to Fox32Chicago.

Ojikutu fled to Canada by bus after being charged, but was apprehended seven months later and turned over to American authorities in January 2020.

Last July, he entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.

According to prosecutors, con artists in the US and Nigeria targeted senior citizens and gained their trust by engaging in an online romance with them before stealing money from them, according to a statement from John Lausch, the US Attorney for Northern Illinois.

Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and the mobile dating app Match.com were used to contact scam victims.

Prosecutors asserted on Thursday that Ojikutu used the money obtained fraudulently for his own personal gain, including buying cars in the US and exporting them to Nigeria for resale. Federal prosecutors reported that some victims suffered financial losses of several hundred thousand dollars as a result of Ojikutu's acts.

Of the nine individuals who are now in federal jail, all but one have entered guilty pleas. Federal prosecutors claimed that Daniel Samuel Eta, also known as "Captain" and "Etaoko," 35, of Skokie, who is the suspected mastermind of the scheme, has pled not guilty and that his case is still ongoing.

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