A Nigerian man is on trial in the US for allegedly scamming a Virginia woman out of more than $6.5m after wooing her into a romantic relationship through an online dating site.

Nnamdi Marcellus MgBodile, 35, from Marietta, Georgia, was charged with 20 counts of bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, according to a Justice Department press release on Wednesday.

MgBodile and others also allegedly tried to scam a company out of $350,000 using an email scheme, according to the DOJ.

“Online romance scams and business email compromise frauds have increasingly become the method of choice for transnational fraudsters targeting U.S. residents and companies,” U.S. Attorney Byung Pak said. “In this case, a single victim allegedly lost millions.”

“This is a stark reminder that users of online dating websites should be aware of such scams and exercise extreme caution if asked for money by anyone online or over the phone,” Pak added.

In November 2017, the Virginia woman, who had a sizable trust fund, allegedly came across MgBodile on an online dating site — except he was posing as a man by the name of Jimmy Deere, according to the indictment.

Deere and the woman apparently exchanged emails over the course of the next month. Deere told her he was excited to start a life with her but needed to resolve an investment opportunity first, the indictment said.

He told her he was a hedge fund manager and had a big commission coming his way, but needed her to act as his “representative partner” and to have the money put in her account to avoid a conflict of interest, prosecutors said.

By January and February 2018, Deere and his cohorts started requesting she pay “fees and “taxes” so that his funds could be released.

Over the course of about six weeks, the victim made approximately 25 wire transfers totalling more than $6.5 million, prosecutors said. At least $1.1 million was reportedly wired to business bank accounts for fake companies directly controlled by MgBodile.

After the funds hit the accounts, MgBodile allegedly wired them to overseas accounts in China and the Middle East, per the Justice Department.

In March, a Georgia company received emails from what it believed was Oxford Finance, with which they did business, according to prosecutors. The emails fraudulently claimed the Georgia company needed to wire a quarterly payment, they said. The “spook emails” came from the domain “oxfordfiinance.com,” similar to the company’s true domain, the Justice Department said.

READ Department of US Justice statement,

Nnamdi Marcellus MgBodile has been arraigned on twenty counts of bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

“Online romance scams and business email compromise frauds have increasingly become the method of choice for transnational fraudsters targeting U.S. residents and companies,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “In this case, a single victim allegedly lost millions. This is a stark reminder that users of online dating websites should be aware of such scams and exercise extreme caution if asked for money by anyone online or over the phone.”

“This investigation and subsequent indictment demonstrates the commitment the Secret Service and our partners have in aggressively pursuing those who commit online fraud scams,” said Malcolm D. Wiley, Sr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office. “This case serves as a reminder to all, particularly during the holiday season, to ensure protocols related to cyber hygiene are observed.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: MgBodile was allegedly involved in two fraudulent schemes, a romance scam that defrauded a Virginia woman out of more than $6.5 million, and a business email compromise (“BEC”) scam in which MgBodile and others attempted to defraud a Georgia company of nearly $350,000.

Romance scams are a type of online fraud in which victims are targeted by individuals posing as potential paramours. The fraudsters create fake online dating profiles (often with photographs of attractive men or women) and use these fake personas to express a romantic interest in the victims in order to trick them into sending money to them or their co-conspirators under false pretenses. Romance scams frequently target vulnerable individuals who possess significant financial assets, such as retired widows or widowers.

The indictment alleges that at the end of November 2017 a Virginia woman, who had a sizable trust, met a person through an online site. She was soon convinced that she was in a romantic relationship with the defendant who she had come to know as “Jimmy Deere.” Over the next month, the victim communicated via email with Deere, whom she believed had fallen for her. Deere said he wanted to start a life with her and was excited to live with her, but first had to resolve an investment opportunity—an opportunity that was totally fraudulent and fictitious.

Deere told the victim that he was a fund manager and he was on the verge of receiving a sizeable commission (“the funds”) for services provided to an unnamed client. He explained to the victim that he needed her to be his “representative partner” and have the funds deposited into the victim’s bank account to avoid an alleged conflict of interest.

In January and February 2018, after luring the victim, Deere and conspirators started requesting via email that she pay various “fees” and “taxes” so that the funds could be released. Between approximately January 2, 2018 and February 12, 2018, and in response to representations made by Deere and others regarding the funds, the victim made approximately twenty-five wire transfers totaling more than $6.5 million from the victim’s trust account into various bank accounts. At least $1.1 million was wired to business bank accounts controlled by MgBodile. These bank accounts were for fake companies that did not have physical premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees. After the fraudulent funds hit the accounts controlled by MgBodile, he allegedly wired the funds to other accounts controlled by MgBodile, or overseas accounts in China and the Middle East.

BEC scams commonly involve an employee of a company who has been fooled into responding with email messages that appear to be, but are not, legitimate (“spoof emails”). Here, the indictment alleges that in March 2019, MgBodile and others attempted to defraud a Georgia company out of nearly $350,000 after the Georgia company received emails from what it believed was Oxford Finance, a company that had provided financing to the victim company. The emails fraudulently represented that the victim needed to wire Oxford Finance a quarterly payment rather than being drawn via ACH. None of the emails purporting to be sent from Oxford Finance was actually sent by Oxford Finance. Rather, these “spoof emails” were sent from a domain, “oxfordfiinance.com,” which appeared to be Oxford Finance’s, but was not. The emails also appeared to come from Oxford Finance because the purported sender is an actual employee of Oxford Finance and the email’s signature line contained Oxford Finance’s correct physical address.

Nnamdi Marcellus MgBodile, 35, of Marietta, Georgia, was arraigned on November 19, 2019 U.S. Magistrate Judge Janet F. King. A federal grand jury indicted MgBodile on November 6, 2019. Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is part of the Department Of Justice Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force. The Strike Force focuses on investigating and prosecuting defendants associated with foreign-based fraud schemes that disproportionately affect American seniors. These include romance scams, phone scams, mass-mailing fraud schemes, and tech-support fraud schemes. For further information on these scams, see https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/senior-scam-alert.

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex R. Sistla is prosecuting the case.