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US authorities have announced charges against 80
most Nigerians in a wide range of fraud and money laundering
operation that brought millions of dollars of victims of Internet con works.
US authorities unveiled Thursday a
Grand jury indictment of 252 counts for these people in an operation that
got at least $ 46 million from victims of fraudulent Internet jobs.
Seventeen people were arrested and taken to
custody in Los Angeles and other cities in the United States.
The survey started in 2016 with a single bank
account and one victim, said Paul Delacourt, deputy director in charge of
the office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Los Angeles.
The suspects resorted to various scams for
targeting the elderly, people looking for romantic relationships, small
big companies, to convince them to send money online.
"We think this is one of the most important cases
in the history of the United States, "said American lawyer Nick Hanna at a press conference.
"We are taking a big step forward to disrupt these criminal networks."
Indictment alleges at least $ 6 million
funds obtained fraudulently were transferred via a money laundering network
led by two Nigerians – Valentine Iro, 33, and Chukwudi Christogunus Igbokwe,
38
The couple were among those arrested.
& # 39; Extremely depressed & # 39;
One of the victims, identified as being only
"F.K." in the court documents, would have been "extremely depressed and
angry about these losses, "said the federal complaint.
"She started crying while discussing how
these losses affected it. "
F.K., a Japanese woman, launched an online campaign
relationship with a fraudster named Terry Garcia, claiming to be in post at
Syria, through an international social network for digital correspondents.
Both would communicate by email, with her
using Google to translate English into Japanese.
Garcia told him that he had found a bag of diamonds in
Less than a month after their relationship, and began to introduce her to her son.
badociates, starting with a representative of the Red Cross who told him that Garcia had
been hurt but gave him the box.
In total, she made 35 to 40 payments, receiving at the latest
10 to 15 emails a day asking him to send money to accounts of the
United States, Turkey and the United Kingdom through many alleged partners of Garcia.
At one point, she was even threatened with arrest
if she did not make the payments.
The relationship is over with F.K. lose $ 200,000
and on the brink of bankruptcy. She had borrowed money from her sister,
ex-husband and friends to help Garcia with his fraudulent plan.
All accused are facing charges of conspiring to
commit fraud, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft,
some are charged with other offenses.
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