April 9 (UPI) — A Georgia man was given two years in prison for his role in a romance scheme that stole thousands of dollars from elderly victims in multiple states, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Badetito O. Obafemi, 42, will spend the next 24 months in a federal prison after sentencing by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips after he pleaded guilty on April 18 of last year to a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a release.
Phillips, after accepting the guilty plea May 2024, also mandated Obafemi’s sentence be without a chance of parole in addition to three years of supervised release following incarceration, and further ordered Obafemi to pay restitution of more than $311,500 to his victims in Missouri, New Jersey and Minnesota.
Obafemi admitted to colluding with others in the scams from June 2016 through at least March 2018 in weaponizing digital tools, such as social media, to develop relationships with potential victims in which scammers would later begin to request money for a variety of reasons, including for food, business, and medical and travel expenses.
“Obafemi conspired with the perpetrators to receive wire transfers from the victims, coordinating the necessary bank account information, the timing of transfers and the transfer of funds across accounts,” DOJ officials say.
He allegedly targeted individuals in Missouri’s Taney County and Northfield, Minn., and in Bergen County, N.J.
According to court documents, a victim in Missouri was contacted in May 2016 by a person claiming to be “Kevin Condon” on Facebook. Following a slew of email, phone and Facebook conversations, he convinced the victim to send money for what he claimed was an overseas business and medical expense to the tune of more than $27,400.
He further admitted that “Condon” attempted to convince a victim to deposit $40,000 into an account controlled by Obafemi, supposedly to pay a South African court for his prison release.
Federal officials said he received the illicit funds in personal accounts and in his two business accounts.
According to LinkedIn, Obafemi attended Southern Polytechnic State University and was listed as president and CEO of Georgia-based easyticketstravel.com and Goeasy Logistics LLC with a background in travel management and accounts processing.
In 2013, a Colorado mother and daughter were sentenced to prison for an Internet scam that tricked victims into sending money to people they thought were U.S. soldiers and which raked in at least $1 million.
Federal prosecutors noted last August that romance scammers are “expert manipulators” as they pointed to a then-recently indicted 52-year-old West Virginia man for taking $96,000 from a woman.
Information about DOJ’s Elder Fraud Initiative is available, and additional info on the Consumer Protection Branch and its elder fraud enforcement efforts.
The investigation was part of a multi-agency effort between Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Northfield, Minn., Police Department in the case prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark in Missouri’s Western District.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).
