A Nigerian man, Isaiah Okere, has pleaded guilty to charges of internet fraud that made no fewer than 15 Americans and groups lose more than a million dollars.
Okere, 42, pleaded guilty on Tuesday before a United States District Court judge, Lewis Liman, for conspiring with members of a transnational criminal organisation, Black Axe, to dupe unsuspecting people.
This was announced by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
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Okere, who conspired with one Timy Hakim, may be sentenced to a five-year imprisonment after pleading guilty to “one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.”
According to the press release, the convict participated “in an international conspiracy to defraud at least 15 victims of romance schemes, lottery scams, and business email compromise schemes.”
He was arrested in South Africa in December 2021 and extradited on August 23, 2024.
His accomplice, Hakim, was sentenced to two years in prison on September 27, 2023, and ordered to pay $1,414,043 in restitution, while forfeiting $671,452.
Isaiah Okere and his co-conspirators preyed on elderly and vulnerable victims, some of whom lost their entire life savings.
“Even though he operated his scams from a country halfway around the world, this office’s global reach ensures that he will be held accountable in the United States for his crimes,” Williams said.
The defendant began the fraud schemes around 2015 and continued up to November 2019.
The court document revealed “at least 15 people and entities with over a million dollars in losses.”
The Nigerian and his conspirators used the romance scheme to make their victims believe they were in romantic relationships and defrauded them of their life savings.
Those affected included “vulnerable, isolated, and elderly victims who entered into relationships after the deaths of their spouses and, over several years, were induced to drain their entire retirement savings and take out loans from family and friends.”
“Many victims experienced severe emotional harm, including a woman who reported becoming suicidal after losing her retirement savings to this scheme.
“He used the phony lottery scheme to inform certain victims that they had won a cash prize but first needed to make certain payments to access the funds.
“Similarly, using the BEC fraud scheme to induce a corporate victim located in Manhattan to release company funds under fraudulent pretences by impersonating the founder of the company.
“Okere used accounts under false identities to communicate directly with his US victims,” the statement read. “He also controlled multiple foreign bank accounts in South Africa that received funds from victims targeted by these schemes,” the US stated.
Punch