A Massachusetts man who used fake names on dating websites to net millions of dollars through a romance scam recently pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Kofi Osei, 30, of Randolph, pleaded guilty on Sept. 16 to seven counts of making a false statement to a bank, six counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.
Between 2016 through at least 2020, Osei opened bank accounts in the greater Boston area using fake identity documents. Osei used fake names on the dating websites eHarmony and Plenty of Fish and fake identifications to set up bank accounts, records said.
Those bank accounts were used to receive fraudulently obtained funds from a number of victims of Osei’s romance scams.
A romance scam, according to prosecutors is when perpetrators create fictitious online personas to develop online romantic relationships with individuals in the U.S. and then leverage those relationships to obtain money and or property.
Once the fraudulently obtained funds reached the accounts controlled by Osei, Osei generally withdrew the money in cash, used the funds to purchase cashier’s checks, or spent the money on personal purchases, officials said.
A February 2021 search of Osei’s residence and car revealed additional fake identity documents in the names of other aliases. In total, Osei opened more than 40 bank accounts using seven aliases. Those accounts received more than $4 million in victim funds, officials said.
One woman, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, said she was contacted by a man known to her as “William Karlsen” via eHarmony in December 2016.
The man was actually Osei, authorities said.
The man and woman chatted over the phone, text and email. Then the man began to tell her he worked on an oil rig overseas. The demands for money began.
Osei, posing as the man, had arranged to meet the woman in Florida, but canceled the meeting after he said, “he was unable to travel because he was involved in an explosion on the oil rig and had been detained by authorities in Dubai,” federal records said.
Osei then asked for the woman to send money to pay for his attorney so he could be released.
In Feb. 2017, the woman sent $36,000 via wire transfer to a bank account controlled by Osei.
In a week, nearly all the money was gone, authorities said.
Then on Valentine’s Day of 2017, the same woman sent two wire transfers totaling $125,000 to one of the accounts controlled by Osei. Roughly $120,000 was gone within three days.
The first alleged victim had $201,000 taken by Osei, federal records said.
A second woman from Montecito, California, said she was contacted in December 2017 by a man she knew as “William Woodcox” on the dating site called Plenty of Fish. The man was actually Osei, authorities said.
Osei told the woman he was working in France when “there was an accident at his place of employment.” Osei, under the phony name, asked the woman to help people who were injured by sending cash. He then later told the woman he was arrested and needed money to get out of jail.
The second woman, between January 2018 and February 2018, sent $65,000 to bank accounts controlled by Osei, records said.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Jan. 20, 2023. Osei was charged in February 2021.
Previous reporting from Scott J. Croteau was used in this report.
Related Content:
