Missouri man proofread emails for Nigerians in romance scam against seniors, feds say

A Missouri man accused of proofreading messages by Nigerians in a romance scam against seniors is going to prison, authorities say.

The proofreading and St. Louis resident Hammed Akande’s job as a “money mule” in the operation resulted in a conviction of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. A judge has sentenced him to more than five years in prison.

In 2017, Akande started serving as a “money mule” who collected payments as part of a romance scam against two dozen people over age 60 in the U.S., authorities say.

In romance scams, fraudsters pretend to be in a romantic relationship to steal from unsuspecting victims they target on dating sites and social media.

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Akande picked up money and items sent from the victims to residential addresses he controlled in the St. Louis area and disbursed the funds to other members of the scheme, authorities say.

“Akande also played a significant role in the scheme because he used his skill with the English language to proofread messages that his Nigerian co-conspirators were sending to the victims living in the United States,” a news release says. “This skill placed the victims at ease, and furthered their misbelief that they were in a romantic relationship with United States citizens.”

Some of the victims reported “substantial financial hardship” after sending the money to the scammers, authorities say, and four people lost a combined $574,000.

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Missouri man proofread emails for Nigerians in romance scam against seniors, feds say."