Federal Law Enforcement In Dallas Announce Large Scale Fraud Operation – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Federal Justice Department investigators say 35 people in North Texas are accused of carrying out romantic schemes to defraud and steal money from elderly Americans.

Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s and FBI’s North and East Texas Districts have announced a multi-year investigation into a large criminal enterprise operating out of North Texas.

Investigators have announced criminal charges against 35 people accused of wire fraud and money laundering in a highly sophisticated scheme that stole more than $ 17 million from more than 100 people nationwide .

According to court documents, these defendants attacked older victims, many of whom were widowed or divorced. They assumed fake names and trolled dating sites like Match.com, ChistianMingle, JSwipe, and PlentyofFish, looking for targets.

The conspirators pretended to be an interested partner, then built a level of trust with their target before finally sharing a bloody story that ended with them needing a large sum of money.

“Crimes like these are particularly despicable because they are based not only on the victims’ lack of internet knowledge, but also on their isolation, loneliness and sometimes their grief,” Acting US Prosecutor Prerak Shah said at the meeting. ‘a press conference announcing the charges. “The only mistake these victims make is being generous to the wrong people.”

In many cases, investigators say, alleged thieves would then siphon thousands of dollars from their victim’s bank accounts.

“Once they used up the savings, they vanished into thin air,” Shah said.

Investigators said the funds from the victims were eventually transferred to accounts located in Africa and Asia.

Shah added that romance scams are often difficult to prosecute because victims are often embarrassed, feel cheated and don’t want to come forward. Still, they encourage victims to come forward and reassure them that scams are more common than you might think – more than 20,000 people lost $ 600 million in romance scams in 2020.

Tips for avoiding dating scams

• Be careful if someone arrives too quickly or asks you to keep the relationship a secret.
• It should be a wake-up call if someone can’t meet with you continuously and constantly cancels their plans.
• Potential partners shouldn’t ask for your social security number or bank account information.
• Do not share login information with sensitive accounts.
• Perform a reverse image search on photos to make sure that a person is not using photos found elsewhere on the internet.
• Think long and hard before sending money or gifts to someone you haven’t met in person.

Seniors weren’t the only ones targeted, federal investigators also said business owners and municipal governments were also targeted. Agents said the conspirators stole business funds intended for purchase or investment in assets and businesses not owned by the conspirators and also filed unemployment insurance claims and received prepaid debit cards that were cashed and then distributed to conspiracy members.

Eleven of the arrests were made in the North District of Texas while 24 arrests were made in the East District of Texas.

Those charged in the North Texas District include:

• David Animashaun, 38 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy
• Oluwalobamise Michael Moses, 40 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy
• Irabor Fatarr Musa, 51 – arrested in Eastern District of Texas, charged by North District of Texas with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
• Ijeoma Okoro, 31 – arrested in DFW, wire fraud, fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
• Chukwemeka Orji, 36 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
• Emanuel Stanley Orji, 35 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy
• Frederick Orji, 37 – arrested in Dallas, charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
• Uwadiale Esezobor, 36 – arrested in Lubbock, charged with conspiracy of mail and electronic fraud
• Victor Idowu, 36 – arrested in Los Angeles, charged with conspiracy of mail and electronic fraud
• Afeez Abiola Alao, 37 – wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
• Ambrose Sunday Ohide, 47 – wire fraud conspiracy

All named defendants are innocent until proven guilty. If found guilty, the defendants face 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy of wire fraud and up to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy of money laundering.