Victim details fake romance scheme involving former UVU athlete
Ashraf Abudu faces one federal mail fraud and wire fraud charge, along with one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his alleged involvement in the operation.
According to court documents, those involved in the scam would reach out through social media and pretend to be romantically interested in the victims or falsely claim to be members of the military. They would then use information gathered to apply for unemployment benefits in multiple states.FOX 13 spoke to Mike Clarke, a victim who got caught up in the scheme last spring when Abudu attempted to scam him.
"I started getting messages from this person who identified themselves as Linda Jim," said Clarke, who lives in Tampa."I sent two checks, one for $50 on one account and another for $25 on another account, and I thought you know, we will see what happens." Clarke added that the operators of the scheme tried to make things look real, but cracks started to appear.
"They took a photograph of themselves holding the check, but, I could see when I got it that it was photoshopped," Clarke remembered."In other words, it was a picture of this woman, but with a strange looking hand holding one of my checks.
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