Two Nigerians, Chinagorom Onwumere, 36, and Stephen Anagor, 37, have been sentenced to over 13 years in prison in the United States for their roles in a romance scam and wire fraud operation that resulted in the death of an elderly American.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Judge Clifton L. Corker of the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville handed down the prison terms to Onwumere, Anagor, and their accomplice, 29-year-old Salma Abdalkareem, a Sudanese national.
Onwumere received a four-and-a-half-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated stalking resulting in death, and money laundering. Anagor was sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Court filings revealed that Anagor and Onwumere met during military training in South Carolina in June 2023.
Anagor recruited Onwumere, his wife, and Abdalkareem to assist a relative in Nigeria in defrauding victims across the United States.
The scheme involved posing as celebrities online to lure mostly older adults into fake romantic relationships. Once trust was gained, victims were manipulated into sending large sums of money under various pretexts.
“Members of the conspiracy would then engage in various devices to obtain money from the victims, such as the need for help with taxes on luxury vehicles, background investigation fees needed for employment, membership fees that would permit unique access to the celebrities, etc,” the Department of Justice said.
Onwumere and Anagor will also serve five years of supervised release after their prison terms and are required to pay $388,500 in restitution. Their convictions highlight the increasing involvement of Nigerians in high-profile fraud cases abroad.
