Two Nigerian nationals, Olutayo Sunday Ogunlaja, 39, and Abel Adeyi Daramola, 37, have been convicted by a U.S. federal jury for orchestrating a $560,000 romance scam. Each faces up to 20 years in prison.
The scheme involved creating a fake identity, “Glenn Brown,” on the dating site eHarmony.com, to establish a romantic relationship with a victim in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The victim was led to believe that financial assistance was needed for a construction project in Malaysia, resulting in the transfer of approximately $560,000 to various accounts between January 2016 and April 2017.
Daramola’s involvement was revealed through text and WhatsApp messages on his phone, which showed he supplied bank accounts for the fraudulent activities. Ogunlaja used his Bank of America account to receive fraudulent funds, including a $20,000 cash deposit from the victim, which he subsequently withdrew and transferred to Daramola’s account.
