US Govt Sentences Nigerian Man to Prison for Defrauding Elderly People

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A Nigerian man, Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata will spend 97 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme.

This comes after a judge gave the ruling on Friday.

A statement issued by the US Department of Justice Public Affairs on Monday also confirmed the report.

Ogbata was a member of a group of fraudsters that sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the US over the course of several years, according to court documents.

It added that the “36-year-old Nigerian and his co-conspirators collected money victims sent in response to the fraudulent letters.”

“Victims who sent money never received any purported inheritance funds.”

In pleading guilty, Ogbata admitted to defrauding over $6 million from more than 400 victims.

However, most of the victims were elderly or otherwise vulnerable people.

This is coming less than a few days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, announced the arrest of 22 Nigerians accused of orchestrating a series of sextortion schemes.