A United States federal jury has sentenced two Nigerians, Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu to 30 years in prison over a $3.5m romance scam.
Edum News reports that this was made public by the US Department of Justice in a statement on Monday.
According to the Justice department, the duo defrauded some US citizens of the said amount by deceiving them that they had received substantial inheritances that required some money to claim.
They were also said to have asked their victims to send some amounts of money with a promise to refund them once the inheritances were claimed.
The duo were successful in the scams by establishing romantic relationships with their victims and demanding them to send money after they had built trust with them.
They were however uncovered and nabbed by a covert law enforcement investigation. The scams resulted in losses to victims of at least $3.5 million.
Following their arraignment on 14 counts, the duo pleaded guilty to their various charges.
Upon their guilty plea, the court sentence Ibekie to 20 years jail term while Aniukwu was sentenced to 10 years jail term.
