A United States federal court has sentenced Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu to a combined 30 years in prison for defrauding American citizens of $3.5 million.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, the two orchestrated a romance scam, deceiving victims with false claims about inheriting substantial fortunes that required upfront payments to access.
The statement noted that a covert investigation by law enforcement uncovered the fraud schemes. It explained:
“An undercover investigation led to federal prison sentences for two Nigerian nationals living in Chicago suburbs who conducted online inheritance scams and other fraudulent activities.
“Using aliases, Anthony Emeka Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu communicated with victims across the United States, convincing them they had received significant inheritances that required payment to be claimed.
“In addition to the inheritance scam, the pair also carried out an online romance scam by building trust with victims through social media and dating websites and convincing them to send money. They also orchestrated a ‘business email compromise’ scam targeting corporate email accounts.
“The scams, uncovered through the investigation, resulted in losses of at least $3.5 million.”
Earlier this year, Ibekie, 59, of Oswego, Illinois, was convicted on 14 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank, and passport fraud. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Aniukwu, 50, of Romeoville, Illinois, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and money laundering and received a 10-year sentence earlier this month.
A third individual, Jennifer Gosha, a U.S. citizen linked to the scam, is awaiting sentencing on December 18 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and making false statements to a federal agent.
