‘All my money.’ Man sentenced in scams that cost Kentucky women nearly $400,000.
A man who helped con a Lexington woman out of more than $200,000 through a “romance scam” has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
Ismaila Fafunmi also was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to the woman.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell ordered Fafunmi to pay a total of $547,751 in restitution to people he helped scam in several states, including Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Minnesota.
The two biggest victims in Fafunmi’s case were from Kentucky — the woman in Lexington and another from Scottsville who sent $183,000 for what she believed was a program to secure a federal grant.
Fafunmi and others involved in the scam swindled many of the victims through what is called a romance scam, in which the victim — often an older woman — believes she is in a relationship with a man.
Fafunmi, who was from Nigeria but lived in Indianapolis, Ind., was involved in a ring that set up profiles of American men on dating sites, using false information and photos, and then contacted women to try to get money from them.
Fafunmi used an alias and said he was a U.S. Army soldier stationed overseas, according to information in the court file.
He told the Lexington woman he wanted to marry her, and she sent him cash and gifts such as electronics.
In one case, the woman took out a home equity loan in order to send $73,000 to an account Fafunmi designated.
The victim emptied her life savings, according to information she provided for a sentencing memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Anderson.
“I have trouble even reading all the things I did to try to help someone (I thought). Hard to believe [there] are such crooks that exist and feed off folks to get what they want,” the woman wrote, according to the memo.
The woman in Western Kentucky, who is disabled, said she was hooked into the scam because of someone impersonating a church friend on Facebook and encouraging her to look into getting a federal grant, according to the memo.
Ultimately, the con man “had all my money, my house, everything. Then he wanted my Discover card numbers and password,” the woman said.
After draining her life savings, the woman now lives in debt, the prosecutor wrote.
Fafunmi and others in the U.S. involved in the scam kept some money for themselves, but sent much of it to people in Nigeria.
Tips by the FBI to avoid being victimized in a romance scam include never sending money to someone you have only talked with online or over the telephone.
