A Maryland man has been charged with federal money laundering charges after allegedly running an illegal money service business.
Charles K. Egunjobi, 48, appeared in U.S. District Court on Friday in Greenbelt, Maryland, before ultimately being released under supervision in his current residence in Waldorf, Maryland. Egunjobi, a financial auditor for the government of Washington, D.C., faces allegations of running a romance scheme involving as many as 20 people.
“The alleged romance scam co-conspirators contacted victims on social media platforms and dating sites, engaged in online relationships with the victims, then convinced victims to send large sums of money claiming the funds were needed for purported personal hardships,” a press release from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office read. “Many victims reported sending funds at the request of individuals claiming to be deployed members of the United States Armed Forces who asked for money for various personal hardships.”
Many of these victims, targeted between Sept. 2019 and April 2020, were elderly, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One victim reported sending thousands of dollars for the sake of a man claiming to be a U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq.
A second man, Isidore Iwuagwu, 35, is also facing a similar criminal complaint for sending Egunjobi U.S. currency in exchange for Nigerian currency. Evidence of their text exchanges, along with the proof of money transfers, was found in Egunjobi’s residence following a search warrant on Aug. 10.
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In the case of crimes against the elderly, the Department of Justice runs the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311), and it has also established an interactive tool for elders who have been financially exploited to help determine to which agency they should report their incident and a senior scam alert website.
