This was disclosed in a statement issued by the US Department of Justice Public Affairs on Monday.
File photo
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.