Kenyan Woman Swindler Fined Ksh119m for Defrauding Americans

A Kenyan lady who ran a romance scam that preyed on people in the US was given a seven-year prison term on Tuesday by a US court in Boston, Massachusetts.

 For her part in romance scams and other online frauds intended to trick victims into sending money to bank accounts she and five other people controlled, Florence Mwende Musau was forced to pay Kes.119 million ($957,000) in restitution.

Musau, 38, was accused of conspiring to commit bank fraud as well as wire fraud.

According to court records, "Musau used at least three distinct aliases as part of the plan to open nearly ten fake bank accounts and obtain around $1 million in fraud proceeds."

As mentioned in the court documents, the group constructed false identities on social media or online dating services and conned their victims out of Kes. 480 million ($4 million) in total.

She entered a guilty plea in 2021 before a federal judge in Boston, and on Tuesday, she was given a sentence of 44 months in jail and 30 months of supervised release.

The Massachusetts Attorney's Office claims that Musau and her collaborators built fake profiles on social media or dating websites to win the trust of potential victims before tricking them into sending money under false pretences.

Musau opened bank accounts in and around Boston using fake passports in the names of various aliases to receive money from the romance frauds.

She subsequently carried out significant cash withdrawals from those accounts, usually in an organized manner.