Feature
Prosecutors are cracking down on online romance scams
Photo illustration by Sarah Wadford/ABA Journal.
Based on his Chemistry.com dating profile, Paul Edward seemed like a catch. He was an Irishman, a father and had a good career working as a civil engineer in South Africa.
Or at least that’s what a South Carolina woman thought. The two connected online, and when Paul Edward shared with her that a worker was injured at the South Africa job site, she sent money to help, based on the belief her new man was responsible for associated costs.
Later, she learned Paul Edward was not from Ireland, he did not work as an engineer, and that was not his name. Instead, the person she communicated with was part of a romance scam. And she wasn’t the only target. It’s estimated that 60 women were scammed by this operation, which netted at least $2.3 million, according to a 2021 indictment filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina charging defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Defendant Samuel Ugberaese, a Nigerian national who at one point lived in Atlanta, is still at large, and that’s why the docket has few details of how the alleged victims were wooed, says Adam Hulbig, an assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the case.
The indictment says the scam involved nine different U.S. bank accounts, which the victims used to deposit…
