LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A man charged in connection to a romance scam that defrauded a Lexington woman is now on U.S. soil, before his day in court.
A Nigerian court, where the suspect is from, recently approved his extradition to Kentucky. He flew into Blue Grass Airport Wednesday morning.
“What do you say to the woman who says she’s your victim out $200,000?” WKYT’s Shelby Lofton asked Adedunmola Gbadegsin.
“I’m not the perpetrator of the crime. When we get to the court we’ll find out,” Gbadegsin responded.
According to an indictment, Gbadegsin is accused of wire fraud and money laundering. FBI special agents say he and others tricked a Fayette County woman into thinking she had a romantic relationship with someone online.
“This is not something that we hear about all the time. Most of the time, unfortunately, we talk to victims of the romance scam who have lost thousands of dollars and unfortunately no way to track down the perpetrators or to make them pay for their crime,” said Kim Sweazy with the Better Business Bureau.
That’s not uncommon, but the FBI says extraditing a suspect from overseas to the United States, is.
“Nigeria has always been a hotspot for scams. Any time a new scam comes up we’re often show that it’s coming out Nigeria. What we’ve learned, it’s almost an organized crime kind of syndicate out there,” Sweazy said.
The FBI said other people involved in the case pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
“If only they’d put these skills to positive work,” Sweazy said.
The BBB said there are several red flags for romance scams. They said if someone claims they need money for things like medication, they live overseas and a romantic relationship progresses, quickly, have your guard up.
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