A 34-year-old Ghanaian, Wigbert Bandie, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Thomas A. Varlan to over five years in prison on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.
Bandie was accused to have been the main brain behind an international wire fraud, defrauding unsuspecting elderly victims of over $2 million.
The Ghanaian national will be forced to pay $2.18 million in restitution to his victims and also serve three years of supervised release.
“Once the victim was clearly engaged in the scam, the scammer would begin to ask for emergency financial assistance or dupe victims into non-existent investment opportunities,” the US Department of Justice stated revealed during the trial.
Bandie and other co-conspirators assumed fake online identities to trick victims, who were primarily elderly, into entering friendships and romantic relationships.
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