Ghanaian man sentenced to 63 months in US for $2m international wire fraud

Ghanaian man has been sentenced to 63 months by United States District Judge for orchestrating an international wire fraud conspiracy that defrauded elderly victims of over $2 million.

Wigbert Bandie, 34, was sentenced by the United States District Court Judge, Thomas A. Varlan, in the Eastern District of Tennessee , Knoxville on Tuesday, November 26, 2924.

Following his incarceration, Bandie will be on supervised release for three years, he has been ordered to repay $2.18 million in restitution to the 11 victims in this case.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Bandie pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349 and 1343.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bandie, along with members of the conspiracy, assumed false identities on social media, dating websites, and other internet-based platforms in a scheme to trick primarily elderly victims into entering friendships and romantic relationships.

The team then under false pretenses and fake romantic relationships convince victims to invest in non-existent investment scheme.

“As part of the conspiracy, romance scammers or “handlers” posed as potential friends or romantic partners and entered online relationships with unwitting victims, many of whom were elderly. The relationships usually developed quickly through social media contact, text messages, email, and phone calls. Once the victim was clearly engaged in the scam, the scammer would begin to ask for emergency financial assistance or dupe victims into non-existent investment opportunities,” the DOJ said.

In some instances, Bandie and his group consistently demanded increasingly larger amounts of money to be sent once they establish the romantic relationships.

“If the victim sent money, the scammer would ask for increasingly larger amounts of financial assistance.  There were victims throughout the United States who each lost amounts ranging from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars.  For example, one victim who resided in the Eastern District of Tennessee lost over $280,000 to this scheme over the course of several months,

The operation involved co-conspirators who acted as “money mules” in the conspiracy.  They were basically facilitating the transfer of the money received from the United States to overseas through bank wire transfers or through the mail.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III commended the efforts of law enforcement, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This investigation was led by FBI Special Agent Matthew R. Short.

The post Ghanaian man sentenced to 63 months in US for $2m international wire fraud first appeared on 3News.

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