A 51-year-old man of Nigerian origin, Ronayerin Ogolor, has been sentenced to three years in prison for internet fraud in the United States.
Ogolor was sentenced by US Chief District Judge, Beth Phillips, and was ordered to pay $871,739 in restitution to his 13 victims.
Court documents said 13 victims from around the US and Italy each sent tens of thousands of dollars to Ogolor.
In one case, a widow from Indiana who received a friend request on Facebook was led to believe that one of Ogolorโs accomplices was a widower named โLawrence Garrisonโ working on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana.
In October 2019, Ogolor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He accepted responsibility for his role in a scam that targeted singles seeking love, some of them elderly, through Facebook and dating websites ChristianMingle.com and LetsHangout.com.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, since 2013, Ogolor and his accomplices created several bogus online dating profiles then contacted men and women throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, โwith whom they cultivated a sense of affection and often romance.โ (Guardian)