A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after scamming millions from unsuspecting online daters.
Kofi Osei, 30, was sentenced to prison last week after being convicted of stealing $8 million in proceeds from his victims, $4 million of which went directly into his personal accounts, WRAL reports
. Osei is accused of creating fake dating profiles and building trust with online daters before regaling the victims with stories of oil rig explosions and being locked up in foreign jails.Osei and his accomplices are said to have targeted older victims from 2016 to 2020, where they were tricked into transferring money to one of dozens of shady bank accounts that were opened using fake passports, aliases, and fake business names.
The money would be
incontent-ad2">Prosecutors said another woman was “left financially and emotionally devastated,” after sending Osei $65,000 to help support employees she was told were injured in an accident at his overseas worksite. That victim was also told that Osei needed money to get released from jail.
He went by different names during his schemes, including Paul Proia, Kenneth Buck, Jeffrey Anashe, Author Ivey, David Label, Manuel Abdalla, and Andrew Matses, MSN reports.
A native of Ghana, Osei moved to the United States legally to pursue a professional soccer career. He was arrested in February 2021 and pleaded guilty in September to making a false statement to a bank, wire fraud, and money laundering, WJAR
reports.In addition to the 4 1/2-year sentence, Osei was also ordered to pay $4,122,558 in restitution and forfeiture. His legal team claims he is a remorseful loving father with no prior criminal history who made “a poor and misguided decision.”