DC's Tinder Swindler: Maryland man charged with cash laundering in romance rip-off

A Maryland man has been charged with federal cash laundering prices after allegedly working unlawful cash service enterprise.

Charles Okay. Egunjobi, 48, appeared in U.S. District court docket Friday in Greenbelt, Maryland earlier than ultimatley being launched below superivision in his present residence in Waldorf. Egunjobi, a monetary auditor for the federal government of Washington, D.C., faces allegations of working a romance scheme involving as many as 20 folks.

"The alleged romance rip-off co-conspirators contacted victims on social media platforms and courting websites, engaged in on-line relationships with the victims, then satisfied victims to ship giant sums of cash claiming the funds had been wanted for purported private hardships," a press launch from the Maryland U.S. Lawyer's workplace learn. "Many victims reported sending funds on the request of people claiming to be deployed members of america Armed Forces who requested for cash for varied private hardships."

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Many of those victims, focused between Sept. 2019 and April 2020, had been aged, based on the U.S. Lawyer. One sufferer reported sending 1000's of dollars for the sake of a person claiming to be a U.S. solider deployed to Iraq.

A second man, Isidore Iwuagwu, 35, can be going through an identical prison grievance for sending Egunjobi U.S. foreign money in trade for Nigerian foreign money. Proof of their textual content exchanges, together with the proof of cash transfers, was present in Egunjobi's residence following a search warrant on Aug 10.

Within the case of crimes towards the aged, the Division of Justice runs the Nationwide Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311), and likewise established an interactive instrument for elders who've been financially exploited to assist decide to which company they need to report their incident, and a senior rip-off alert web site.