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U.S. authorities said Derrick Van Yeboah, a 41-year-old Ghanaian national also known as "Van," was sentenced to 85 months in prison for his role in a Ghana-based criminal organization that used romance scams and business email compromise fraud to steal and launder money from victims in the United States. Prosecutors said the broader network caused more than $100 million in losses, while Van Yeboah was personally responsible for more than $10 million stolen from at least 20 victims, many of them older and vulnerable adults.
According to court filings, Van Yeboah operated from February 2015 through October 2024 as a high-ranking member of the group, using fake online identities to pose as romantic partners and manipulate victims into sending funds or laundering proceeds that were ultimately moved to West Africa. One victim in North Carolina was tricked into sending $123,000 through fabricated stories involving funeral expenses and valuables in Italy. Van Yeboah was arrested in Ghana in June 2025, extradited to the United States in August 2025, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in March 2026, and was ordered to forfeit $10,149,429.17 in addition to serving two years of supervised release.
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Derrick Van Yeboah pleaded guilty in U.S. court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the Ghana-based fraud scheme. He also agreed to forfeit more than $10.14 million.
With assistance from U.S. and Ghanaian agencies, Derrick Van Yeboah was extradited from Ghana to the United States to face charges tied to romance scams and business email compromise fraud. The Justice Department specified the extradition date as August 7, 2025.
Authorities arrested Derrick Van Yeboah in Ghana as part of the U.S. case against the romance scam operator. The arrest preceded his transfer to the United States.
Prosecutors said Derrick Van Yeboah operated as a high-ranking member of a Ghana-based criminal organization that carried out romance scams and business email compromise fraud, personally causing more than $10 million in losses. His activity as a "sakawa boy" was described as running from February 2015 through October 2024.
U.S. authorities announced that Derrick Van Yeboah was sentenced to 85 months in prison for stealing more than $10 million through romance scams as part of a broader Ghana-based criminal organization linked to over $100 million in losses. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $10,149,429.17.
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U.S. courts sentenced two Nigerian nationals for separate fraud operations that targeted victims through **business email compromise**, romance scams, and wire fraud. James Junior Aliyu received **90 months** in prison for his role in an international scheme that compromised business and personal email accounts, sent spoofed messages to reroute legitimate wire transfers, and stole about **$6 million** from victims since at least 2017. Prosecutors said Aliyu was arrested in Johannesburg in 2022, extradited to the United States, ordered to forfeit **$1.2 million** and pay **$2.4 million** in restitution, and is expected to be removed from the country after serving his sentence; co-conspirators Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu also pleaded guilty. In a separate case, Saheed Sunday Owolabi was sentenced to **15 years** in federal prison after prosecutors showed he used fake online identities to run romance scams, steal money and personal information, and launder proceeds through victim bank accounts. Authorities said the operation moved more than **$1.5 million** to Nigeria and included a real-estate wire fraud in which forged emails redirected home-sale funds to accounts controlled by the conspirators. Trial evidence included chat logs showing Owolabi unknowingly attempted to scam another fraudster, helping establish his central role in a scheme that U.S. officials said caused substantial financial hardship to victims across the country.
Jun 29, 2026
U.S. authorities secured guilty pleas in two separate cyber-enabled criminal cases: a Ghana-based fraud ring that stole more than **$100 million** via **business email compromise (BEC)** and romance scams, and a **Phobos** ransomware administrator tied to a global extortion operation. The cases highlight parallel monetization paths—social engineering and payment redirection in BEC/romance schemes versus data encryption and extortion in ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS)—and both involve international arrests/extraditions to the United States. In the fraud case, **Derrick Van Yeboah** (40) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to pay **over $10 million** in restitution for his role in a Ghana-based operation that targeted U.S. victims from 2016 to May 2023, using spoofed emails to impersonate customers/employees and laundering proceeds through U.S. intermediaries before sending funds to coordinators in West Africa. Separately, **Evgenii Ptitsyn** (43) pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for helping develop, sell, distribute, and operate the **Phobos** ransomware platform, which the U.S. DoJ says hit **1,000+** entities and extorted **$16+ million**; he was arrested in South Korea in 2024, extradited to the U.S., and faces up to **20 years** in prison, with sentencing scheduled for July 15.
Jun 29, 2026
U.S. federal court in Boston sentenced **Matthew Abiodun Akande**, a 37-year-old Nigerian national living in Mexico, to **eight years in prison** for a multi-year scheme that compromised Massachusetts tax preparation firms and used stolen taxpayer data to file fraudulent U.S. tax returns. Prosecutors said Akande and co-conspirators used **phishing emails** posing as prospective clients to trick employees into installing **remote access trojan (RAT) malware**, including **Warzone RAT**, enabling theft of clients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and subsequent tax-refund fraud. Court records and DOJ statements said the group filed **1,000+ fraudulent returns** seeking **over $8.1 million** in refunds and obtained **more than $1.3 million**; Akande was also ordered to pay **$1,393,230 in restitution**. Akande was arrested at **Heathrow Airport** in October 2024, extradited to the U.S. in March 2025, and later pleaded guilty to **33 counts** including conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to protected computers, wire fraud, theft of government money, and aggravated identity theft; proceeds were routed to U.S. bank accounts and partially transferred onward, including to recipients in Mexico.
Jun 29, 2026