A 44-year-old dual UK-Nigerian national, Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison by a U.S. court for his involvement in a transnational inheritance scam that defrauded elderly Americans of millions of dollars.
He was extradited from the United Kingdom along with two other co-defendants, Emmanuel Samuel and Jerry Chucks Ozor, who also received prison sentences of 82 and 87 months respectively.
The scam involved sending personalized letters to elderly victims in the U.S., claiming that they were entitled to receive a huge inheritance from a long-lost relative who had died in Portugal.
The letters purported to be from a bank in Spain and asked the victims to send money for various fees and taxes before they could receive their inheritance.
The victims were also instructed to make other payments and to forward money from new victims to the fraudsters.
The fraudsters used a network of former victims in the U.S. to receive and send money, as well as to recruit new victims. Abraham and his co-conspirators also used fake identities, documents, and websites to deceive the victims and evade detection.
Abraham was extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom in 2022. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud in February 2023.
In addition to his prison sentence, Abraham was ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to his victims.
The scam was uncovered by a joint investigation by the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from authorities in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal. Two other co-defendants, who were extradited from Spain, have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The Justice Department said that it will continue to pursue and prosecute transnational criminals who target and exploit U.S. consumers, especially the elderly. It also thanked its international partners for their cooperation in the investigation and extradition of the defendants.
This case is a reminder that international fraudsters are constantly targeting elderly citizens. If you receive a letter or email from someone claiming that you have inherited money, be very careful. Do not send any money or provide any personal information.
If you think you have been the victim of a fraud, you should contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
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