A Ghanaian couple based in New York City, Linda Mbimadong and Richard Broni, have been sentenced to a cumulative 55 months in jail for fraud.
The duo were convicted of being part of a romance fraud scheme that targeted elderly people and got them to send money to them.
Linda, 29 and Richard, 31, live in New York City in the U.S.
They work together as scammers and have reportedly been romantically involved in the past.
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According to the U.S Justice Department, the two were part of a large crime syndicate of romance fraud and other online fraud schemes.
They scammed numerous victims, mostly older Americans, by building up a relationship with them on dating sites and coercing them to send them money.
“The defendants allegedly impersonated military service members, diplomats, and others to deprive elderly victims of their retirement savings,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
One particular victim was a 78-year old man who met one of the scammers on a dating site.
They struck up a relationship and then the scammer started making demands for money, often claiming she was in trouble and needed the money urgently.
In all, she managed to squeeze out $580,000 from him before his family got wind of the scheme and alerted law enforcement.
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The two were arrested and discovered to be part of a large crime syndicate that has duped over a dozen identified victims.
Linda and Richard were sentenced to 36 months and 19 months in prison respectively on Friday, February 18th 2022.
Prosecutors gave them a lenient sentence because they cooperated to help arrest other members of the syndicate.
Linda Mbimadong apparently has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and was pursuing a PhD at Rutgers University.
She left all that to become a scammer and now gets to spend time in jail – absolutely fabulous!
Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com