N.J. men sentenced for laundering money from ‘romance scams,’ other fraud
“The defendants helped cybercriminals obscure the source of their ill-gotten gains and squirrel away fraud proceeds in overseas accounts,” U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona said in a statement. “Citizens are urged to carefully scrutinize any email directing the transfer of money via wire.”
Court documents indicated that from June to November 2018, Ebhodaghe and Asikhia received wire transfers from compromised business emails, a romance scam, and other fraud victims, officials said. The men would then move the fraud proceeds between bank accounts to obscure their origin, and later either wire the money to bank accounts in Nigeria or purchase automobiles that were shipped overseas, authorities said.
“Ebhodaghe and Asikhia typically received fees of 20% or more of the funds that they laundered,” a press release from the Alabama District Attorney’s Office said.