A Nigerian national living in Maryland was sentenced to eight years in federal prison after running a fraud scheme that targeted the elderly, authorities say.
Oluwaseyi Akinyemi, also known as “Paddy Linkin” and “Joseph Kadin,” 35, ran the social media scheme from July 2018 to April 2019, offering victims non-existent financial rewards if they sent cash, money orders, or gift cards to cover fraudulent “taxes and fees”, according to the Department of Justice.
Akinyemi and at least one other co-conspirator posed as real and fake government agencies and impersonated social media accounts of the victim’s friends or family to make the scam seem more realistic to their elderly targets.
Akinyemi would use aliases to receive the packages that contained the money and would keep a portion of the funds before sending the rest to co-conspirators in Nigeria, officials said.
The Nigerian national admitted that the scheme defrauded at least 13 victims aged between 47 and 78 years old from around the United States for a total amount of $478,145.07.
In one instance, a 78-year-old victim from Texas received an application to apply to a purported federal government grant program. He was said to have been approved for $100,000 in grant funds, but needed to pay taxes and fees to receive the funds.
The victim then sent money to Akinyemi and the co-conspirators and received fraudulent certificates that impersonated the IRS. The victim sent around $80,000…
