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SALT LAKE CITY — Seven people are facing federal charges accusing them of causing victims $8 million in losses through a romance scam that used money transmitters in Utah.
A federal grand jury indicted Bolanle Christina Odeyale, 39, of Forney, Texas; Oghenemine Jeffrey Agbroko, 34, of Nigeria; Charles Owhonigho Emurotu, 40, of Ontario, Canada; Jimmy Iwezu, 44, of Forney, Texas; Lori Tsoritse, 38, of Nigeria; Christopher Onyedikachi Okereke, 38, of Nigeria; and Rukevwe Solomon Ologban, 44, of Grand Prairie, Texas, on Wednesday. They face charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
The indictment alleges the defendants worked with a group of people in Utah, referred to as the "Utah Money Transmitters," who agreed to help overseas operators launder money obtained from a romance scheme between March 2018 and June 2019, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office says.
The alleged scheme was primarily operated in Nigeria by a group known as the "Yahoo boys." The Yahoo boys created fake online personas to pursue online relationships with potential targets of the scam, prosecutors said.
Once the Yahoo boys had earned a victim's trust, they would ask for money under false pretenses such as the need to buy a laptop for a kid in college, equipment repairs or medical emergencies, with a promise to return the money, court documents allege.
Many victims were elderly and lost their life savings and retirement funds through the scam, which was estimated to have totaled $8 million in losses.
"The defendants either helped the Utah Money Transmitters source opportunities to work with Yahoo boys or helped them to transmit the fraud proceeds from the District of Utah to other places within the United States or abroad," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The proceeds were transmitted to the Yahoo boys overseas, and part of the financial gain was paid to those who helped move the funds along during the process, according to prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the Utah money transmitters played an "essential" role in the romance scam.
"By operating in the District of Utah, they opened accounts at United States financial institutions to be used to collect money from victims and to distribute money to the coconspirators, to conceal the ultimate destination of the funds and the Yahoo boys' location and identities," the attorney's office said.
The indictment was announced on Valentine's Day as part of the attorney's office's ongoing efforts to raise awareness and prevent romance scams from taking place.
In January, a Provo woman was sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering in an online romance scam that prosecutors say cost victims more than $6 million.
