A Nigerian man who posed as a woman online to swindle men out of their savings has been sentenced to 15 years in a US prison. And in a surprising twist, it turns out that he was caught out after accidentally trying to swindle a fellow fraudster.
35-year-old Saheed Sunday Owolabi was sentenced after a jury trial in Wilmington, North Carolina, which saw him convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Owolabi would pretend to be a woman online to build relationships with men across the United States. He and his fellow conspirators exploited the fake online relationships to convince their victims into handing over money and personal information. Bank accounts provided by victims were then used to launder money from other frauds they were committing.
Owolabi’s crimes went beyond romance fraud. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his conspirators managed to gain unauthorised access to information about the sale of a house, and sent forged emails telling their victim to transfer funds to a bank account under their control.
In all, over US $1.5 million is said to have been laundered to Nigeria from victims across the United States – including one victim from North Carolina who lost more than US $120,000.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Owalbi, however. Investigators uncovered evidence that the scammer was not above been fooled himself.
On one occasion, Owolabi was in the middle of an attempt to groom his “romance” target into sending him money, when it turned out that the person he was communicating with was not a vulnerable victim – but instead also a scammer.
Once the two realised they both worked in the same “industry” the conversation shifted from following romance scam scripts to criticism of Owolabi’s amateurish technique, with the other scammer reportedly mocking his game and told him to “learn how to do a clean job.”
The obvious implication is that the other scammer felt that Owolabi’s technical and social engineering skills were below par for someone believing themselves to be a high-level international fraudster.
While the interaction sounds amusing, the chat logs actually proved devastating for Owolabi’s defence as they proved he was not a “middleman,” and that he knew what he was doing as a leading member of the scam gang and was actively attempting to improve his “craft.”
Owolabi was also not shy about enjoying the benefits of his success as a fraudster. At sentencing, prosecutors revealed images that had been discovered on his phone at the time of his arrest, showing how he had spent his stolen fortune on expensive items.
Chief US District Judge Richard E. Myers II determined that Owolabi was a leading figure within an extensive fraud operation, who caused substantial financial hardship to victims.
Romance scams remain among the most financially devastating forms of cybercrime, exploiting human emotion rather than technical vulnerabilities.
The victims of romance scam are not tricked by malware. Instead they are deceived by the belief that someone genuinely cares about them.
For Owolabi, the next 15 years in a US federal prison will give him plenty of time to reflect on what it actually means to be conned.