Burlington Co. Couple Conducted $4.5M Online-Dating Scheme: Feds
MAPLE SHADE, NJ — A married couple decided they should see other people, preying on more than 100 victims in a multimillion-dollar online-romance scheme, authorities said.
Martins Friday Inalegwu and Steincy Mathieu — both former Maple Shade residents — carried out the scam with several co-conspirators, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Jersey (USAO). From 2016-20, the conspirators pretended to strike up romantic relationships with online victims and then requested money for fake emergency needs, authorities said.
The conspirators assumed fictitious identities and contacted the victims through online-dating sites and social media, the USAO said. Federal law enforcement agents have identified more than 100 victims, who sent more than $4.5 million to Inalegwu and Mathieu and several millions more to their co-conspirators.
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Mathieu and Inalegwu used the money for personal expenses, withdrew funds in cash, transferred money to their other bank accounts, and sent funds to bank accounts in Nigeria and Turkey, authorities said. Inalegwu transferred victims’ money to foreign accounts using an unlawful money-transmitting service provided by Oluwaseyi Fatolu — a New Jersey resident who was also charged in the scheme — according to the USAO.
Inalegwu and Mathieu didn’t pay taxes on the money they accepted from victims, authorities said.
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Many of the conspirators live in Nigeria, officials said.
All three New Jersey residents have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the scam:
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