The wedding ceremony between a Nigerian man, Darlington Akporugo, and his fiancée, Jasmin Sood, which was billed to take place tomorrow, May 25 in Houston, USA, has been called off, following their arrest over alleged fraud.
The couple was arrested in April on charges of conspiring to defraud more than a dozen elderly Americans who believed they were engaged in online romantic relationships with Akporugo.
The United States Department of Homeland Security accused the 46-year-old Nigerian and Sood, 35, of committing a mail and wire fraud that cost victims $3.123 million.
According to investigators, between approximately 2015 and 2022, the fraudsters allegedly used fictitious personas and sought out and contacted elderly victims online who were often widowed.
The indictment alleges they used social networking and internet dating platforms and communicated with victims using email, text message and telephone to gain their trust.
The scammers would then ultimately deceive them into transferring large sums of money to various fraudster-controlled or influenced mailing addresses and bank accounts, many Akporugo and Sood owned or controlled, according to the charges.
After establishing trust with the victim online, Akporugo and Sood approached at least one victim in the Houston area in person, according to the allegations. They then allegedly drove the victim to banks for the purpose of sending money to the fraudster network, convincing her to give Akporugo control of the victim’s banking access devices.
The indictment also charges Akporugo with aggravated identity theft and fraud in connection with an access device. The scheme allegedly resulted at least 13 victims being defrauded of an approximate $3,123,073.
If convicted, both face up to 30 years imprisonment for each of the wire fraud counts and conspiracy. Akporugo faces an additional 10 years on the fraud in connection with an access device and another mandatory two years if convicted of the aggravated identity theft.
