Two Nigerians have been sentenced to a collective 30 years in jail by a United States federal court for defrauding American citizens of a whopping sum of $3.5 million. Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu engineered some inheritance and romance scams where they steadily gained the trust of their targets and swindled them out of substantial sums of money.
Ibekie and his partner in crime enticed victims with phony inheritance claims and demanded money for processing fees. They also ran romance scams, particularly through social media and online dating websites, where they would initiate fake relationships with unsuspecting victims to bilk them out of money. The duo even targeted business email accounts in a business email compromise scheme.
Ibekie, 59, was sentenced to 20 years in jail on multiple charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and passport fraud, Aniukwu, 50, received a 10-year sentence on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Their conspirator, Jennifer Gosha, a U.S. citizen, is scheduled for sentencing this December.
