A 34-year-old Ghanaian, Wigbert Bandie, has been sentenced to over five years in prison for orchestrating an international wire fraud conspiracy that defrauded elderly victims of over $2 million.
Bandie was sentenced to 63 months by United States District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, according to justice.gov.
Following his incarceration, he will serve three years of supervised release and must repay $2.18 million in restitution to his 11 victims.
According to the report, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found that Bandie and his accomplices used false identities on social media, dating websites, and other platforms to form online relationships with their victims, many of whom were elderly.
“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 DOJ stated.
It noted that one victim in East Tennessee alone lost over $280,000 to the scheme, with other victims nationwide losing amounts ranging from a few thousand to several hundred thousand dollars.
The operation, led by Special Agent Matthew R. Short, involved co-conspirators who acted as “money mules,” facilitating the movement of funds from the United States to overseas accounts via wire transfers or mail.
U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III has commended the efforts of law enforcement, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for bringing the perpetrators to justice.
JKB/AE
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