US Charges Nigerian National with $300,000 Online Dating and Email Scam

A federal grand jury in the United States has indicted Okeoghene Patrick Udugba, a 45-year-old Nigerian, on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud related to an alleged romance scam and business email compromise scheme. The indictment was announced by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

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The United States Attorney’s Office alleges that Udugba, who lives in Frisco, Texas, worked with others to orchestrate overlapping fraud schemes, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

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As outlined in the statement, Udugba and his accomplices devised romance and business email compromise schemes that overlapped, utilizing social media and dating websites to establish purported romantic relationships with individuals in multiple states.

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These individuals were then groomed and used by Udugba and his accomplices as money mules to receive and cash fraudulently obtained checks, the statement claimed.

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The statement further alleged that the syndicate sent emails from spoofed addresses in Nigeria, posing as representatives of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, directing that grant funds be used to pay fabricated invoices.

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These fake invoices falsely represented that the money mules were contractors and consultants of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service who had worked on grant-eligible projects, resulting in the grant administrator issuing payments exceeding $300,000, according to the statement.

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The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General, with Assistant United States Attorney Sarah R. Lloyd handling the prosecution.

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The prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, which targets transnational criminal organizations and fraud, the US Attorney’s Office noted.

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The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 30 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine, the statement said.

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However, the statement emphasized that indictments and criminal informations are only allegations, and all persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.