A Nigerian resident has been sentenced in federal court after a years-long romance fraud conspiracy that exploited emotional trust to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple United States citizens, culminating in an international arrest, extradition, and conviction.
Daniel Chima Inweregbu, 40, a citizen of Lagos, Nigeria, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Nanette Jolivette Brown following his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, use of an assumed name to facilitate fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The sentence also includes three years of supervised release, a mandatory $100 special assessment, and $166,400 in restitution to identified victims.
Court records establish that Inweregbu played an active role in a coordinated romance scam that operated from at least July 2017 through December 2018, targeting American women through online dating platforms and social media. The scheme relied on deliberate identity fabrication, emotional manipulation, and layered financial laundering designed to obscure the origins and destinations of stolen funds.
Investigators determined that Inweregbu and his co-conspirators created and maintained online personas under the alias “Larry Pham,” a fictitious middle-aged, Canadian-born Vietnamese man. Using this constructed identity, the conspirators initiated contact with women seeking companionship, gradually cultivating trust through persistent messaging, emotional reinforcement, and false narratives of shared futures.
Once emotional attachment was established, the conspirators began requesting money under a range of pretexts. Victims were persuaded to send funds to domestic bank accounts opened and controlled by the conspirators, often under the guise of emergencies, business setbacks, travel expenses, or personal crises. These requests were structured to appear temporary or resolvable, reinforcing the illusion of a legitimate relationship while steadily draining victims’ finances.
The four identified victims—women born between 1965 and 1976—were defrauded through repeated transactions rather than a single event. Prosecutors described the scheme as cumulative and coercive, leveraging emotional dependence to overcome skepticism and resistance. According to the factual basis entered into the record, the conspiracy resulted in actual and intended losses exceeding $405,000.
Beyond the fraud itself, the case exposed a parallel money-laundering operation designed to conceal the proceeds of the scheme. Funds obtained through mail and wire fraud were routed through intermediaries and financial transactions intended to disguise their source, ownership, and control. These laundering steps were central to sustaining the operation and insulating its organizers from immediate detection.
Inweregbu’s arrest occurred outside the United States. After traveling from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, he was taken into custody and subsequently extradited to the United States in July 2025 to face the charges pending against him. Federal authorities cited the extradition as a critical step in dismantling the conspiracy and holding its participants accountable across borders.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with support from the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Department of State. Prosecutors emphasized that the case reflects the evolving structure of transnational fraud operations, where digital communication enables long-term manipulation without physical proximity, and emotional exploitation becomes the primary attack vector.
Inweregbu’s sentence closes one chapter of a broader category of cyber-enabled financial crime that continues to target vulnerable individuals through fabricated intimacy. Federal authorities reiterated that romance scams remain among the most financially and psychologically damaging fraud schemes, combining monetary loss with lasting emotional harm.
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A clear, well-structured, and impactful account. You’ve presented a complex case with precision and restraint, highlighting not just the crime but the human cost behind it. The emphasis on emotional manipulation and transnational accountability makes this both informative and sobering.
Thank you very much — I appreciate that. These cases are complex, and it’s important to document both the mechanics of the crime and the human impact it leaves behind. Emotional manipulation is often overlooked in fraud reporting, yet it’s central to how these schemes succeed. I’m glad the balance came through. Thanks for taking the time to read and reflect on it. 😎
I’m glad they caught this guy and I hope these women are more careful in the future. I would think women in this age bracket would know better.
Thanks for your articles today, John. I hope you have a great night and a great weekend. God’s blessings to you and yours!
You’re welcome, Chris — I appreciate that. It’s good to see accountability in cases like this. Unfortunately, these schemes don’t hinge on age or intelligence; they’re built around long-term psychological manipulation and timing, often targeting people during periods of isolation or personal upheaval. That’s what makes them so effective and so damaging. Awareness helps, and conversations like this matter. Thanks again, Chris, for reading, and I hope you have a great night and a great weekend as well. God bless you too. 😎
You’re welcome, John, and thank you for your response and kind words. Knowingly using psychological manipulation like this is evil. It is why your posting of stories like this is important.
I hope you have a great day. 🙂
Wow! I cannot believe people still fall for this crap!! I think I should start a group to teach women how not to fall victim to these ridiculous schemes!
My husband and I met online and have been happily married over 20 years!
That’s the key difference, Sheila — intent. I remember you telling me you met your husband online, and at least that worked out for you both. Real relationships grow naturally, like yours did. More so these days, these schemes are engineered to manufacture trust and then exploit it over time, often when someone is vulnerable. The problem isn’t meeting people online; it’s predators learning how to convincingly imitate what’s real. I appreciate you sharing your experience — it actually highlights the contrast perfectly. Thanks again, Sheila. I hope you have a great day ahead. 😎