Canton man faces sentencing for $1 million romance scam

Crime HE CREATED FAKE ALIASES AND CONVINCED PEOPLE HE MET THROUGH ONLINE DATING SERVICES TO WIRE HIM MONEY. A Canton man who romanced others with the goal of getting them to wire him money

pleaded guilty in Boston federal court Friday for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office. He amassed around $1 million from his

victims. Mark Arome Okuo, a 43-year-old originally from Nigeria, will now face sentencing by a grand jury after he swindled more than $1 million in fraudulent proceeds.  He used online

dating platforms to create fake profiles and match with other users before asking them to send him money. Okuo also had multiple passports under different aliases, which he used to open

various bank accounts in the Boston area to hold the sums. Advertisement: Part of Okuo’s scheme involved taking out cash withdrawals of less than $10,000 from the accounts to remain

undetected. Police arrested Okuo in March 2021, and he has been detained since. He was indicted in October 2021. The crime could result in a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years

on parole, and $1 million or more in fines. His sentencing is scheduled for March 29. This marks one of at least two other romance scams tried in Boston since September, and the second tried

this year. In Sept. 2022, 30-year-old Kofi Osei pleaded guilty to a similar scheme, according to a Department of Justice release. The Massachusetts man also created false personas to

swindle others out of their money, and opened multiple bank accounts in Greater Boston to hold the $4 million in funds.  Advertisement: He faced charges of making a false statement to a

bank, wire fraud, and money laundering.  On Jan. 13, a Taunton man was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of parole for his participation in a multi-person organized romance

scam, according to another DOJ release. Francis Okafor, 30, was also ordered to pay $1,130,285 for bank fraud conspiracy.  Okafor opened bank accounts with fake passports to hold money

others gained from pretend romances, netting a total of $1.1 million. People across the country reported losing $547 million to romance scams in 2021, according to the Federal Trade

Commission. This was a record high for these types of schemes, with the total increasing by about 80% compared to 2020. NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Stay up to date on all the latest news from

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