Five people have been charged in Rhode Island federal court with scamming 28 people, most of them elderly, out of more than $2 million through participating in online romance sites and social media games, officials said.
According to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., two people from Houston and three from the Atlanta area are facing various fraud charges.
The suspects are accused of reaching out to victims through online dating sites — including Plenty of Fish, Christian Mingle and Our Time — as well as games like Words with Friends, often feigning romantic interest in the victims, federal officials said.
After gaining the victims’ trust, the suspects convinced them to send money to various bank accounts they controlled, officials said. One of the victims, a 76-year-old widow from Rhode Island, refinanced her home and sold property she owned in Massachusetts in order to send more than $660,000 to bank accounts allegedly controlled by members of the conspiracy
The woman allegedly told investigators she was asked to make the transfers by a “General Mathew Weyer,” who she met through Words with Friends and who claimed to be stationed with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. The United States Attorney’s Office and United States Postal Inspection Service determined that “General Mathew Weyer” does not exist.
The alleged leader of the conspiracy — Wisdom Onyobeno, 39, of Sandy Springs, Georgia — was arrested on Nov. 19 and charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
Also charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering; mail fraud; and wire fraud are Dominique Golden 28, and Sadae Mills, 24, of Houston, Breauna Williams, 25, of Atlanta, and Syretta Scherer, of Sandy Springs, GA.
Mills and Golden were arraigned in U.S. District Court in Providence on Oct. 30, Scherer was arraigned on Nov. 19 in Georgia and an arrest warrant has been issued for Williams.
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