NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22- A 36-year-old Kenyan woman has admitted defrauding several men more than Sh431 million, in an elaborate romance scam.
According to dailymail.co.uk, Florence Mwende Musau pleaded guilty on Monday to federal counts of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, the US attorney’s office in Boston said.
She was formerly living in Massachusetts, in the United States. The woman will be sentenced on October 14. She faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
She was charged alongside three Nigerians.
Musau is said to have engaged in a string of romance scams that were designed to persuade the victims to send money to banks accounts she controlled alongside other accomplices.
US authorities said Musau used fake identities on dating applications and social media sites.
Prosecutors said that she would then create an illusion of a romantic relationship with the victims to steal money from them.
Further, it was established that Musau also used fake passports and at least two aliases, using the names Precious Adams and Catherine Muthoki, to open bank accounts in the Boston area to collect and launder the proceeds of the scams.
She would then withdraw the cash in batches of Sh1 million per withdrawal session to avoid detection, the US authorities said.
The dailymail.co.uk reported that Musau and one of her alleged accomplices, 41-year-old Nigerian national Mark Arome Okuo, were accused of transferring or deposited $1.3million in fraudulent proceeds, since 2018, into various bank accounts, including $195,000 obtained through five romance scams.
Want to send us a story? Contact Shahidi News Tel: +254115512797 (Mobile & WhatsApp)
