Nigerian pleads guilty to defrauding 150 Americans in $2.5m sextortion scam

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A 35-year-old Nigerian, Olamide Shanu, has pleaded guilty in the United States to conspiracy to commit money laundering after participating in sextortion and romance fraud schemes that defrauded about 150 Americans.

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Shanu pleaded guilty on Monday in the District of Idaho, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice on Tuesday.

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The Justice Department said Shanu and his co-conspirators made more than $2.5m from the schemes, which involved victims across the United States.

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In the sextortion scheme, the conspirators typically targeted male victims and persuaded them to send sexual images of themselves.

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They would then threaten to send the images to the victims’ friends and family unless money was paid.

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The conspirators also targeted older women and men through romance scams, using fake identities on social media to establish deceptive emotional relationships with their victims.

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According to court documents, the conspirators would gain the victims’ trust, convince them that they had a romantic future together and then ask them for money, citing various supposedly urgent financial needs.

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The proceeds from the schemes were laundered through peer-to-peer payment applications and several cryptocurrency wallet addresses before being transferred to co-conspirators in Nigeria, the department said.

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“This case exposes a sophisticated international scheme that exploited Americans through sextortion and romance fraud, laundering millions in criminal proceeds,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

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Duva said the department’s Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative was established to tackle such schemes and bring those responsible to justice.

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The US Attorney for the District of Idaho, Bart M. Davis, said the guilty plea demonstrated efforts to prosecute cybercriminals regardless of where they operated.

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“This guilty plea, involving more than $2.5 million in laundered proceeds, reflects the dedicated efforts of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners to disrupt international criminal networks, protect victims, and ensure that cyber-enabled crime does not go unanswered,” Davis said.

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The case involved the US Secret Service and Boise Police Department, which are investigating the schemes.

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Shanu is scheduled to be sentenced on December 15 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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