Fort Liberty. Home to the 82nd Airborne, piney woods and the occasional romance scammer.
Guilty of Money Laundering
A Fort Liberty soldier has been sentenced to a 40-month term in federal prison after admitting guilt to three charges of money laundering connected to “an elaborate series of romance scams,” federal officials announced.
Specialist Sanda G. Frimpong, who was an active-duty soldier until his 2023 arrest, has been mandated to reimburse over $350,000 to victims he and his accomplices exploited. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina released Thursday, Frimpong exploited the guise of a romantic partner to gain the trust of his victims and subsequently defraud them out of substantial sums.
“The elaborate deceptions of Frimpong and his co-conspirators involved impersonating lovers, diplomats, customs officials, military personnel, and other fictitious entities,” the statement detailed.
Sandra Frimpong is shown here in a photo provided by the Samson County, NC, police department following his March 2023 arrest.
Frimpong entered a guilty plea to three counts of money laundering on Sept. 14.
According to the charge sheet, Frimpong held the rank of Army specialist. He migrated to the U.S. from the Republic of Ghana in 2015 on a K-1 fiancé visa, divorced his sponsor in 2018, and became a naturalized citizen shortly after.
The statement noted that Frimpong frequently laundered the stolen funds with assistance from connections in Ghana.
He Pretended to be a Government Official
For instance, one charge in the indictment cites Frimpong masquerading as a woman in 2020, deceiving a widower from New York. He impersonated being held by a Canadian customs officer named “Sanda Frimpong.” He requested $7,400 from the widower to help him get out of detention and assist in transporting gold bars out of Canada.
Guilty of Money Laundering
A Fort Liberty soldier has been sentenced to a 40-month term in federal prison after admitting guilt to three charges of money laundering connected to “an elaborate series of romance scams,” federal officials announced.
Specialist Sanda G. Frimpong, who was an active-duty soldier until his 2023 arrest, has been mandated to reimburse over $350,000 to victims he and his accomplices exploited. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina released Thursday, Frimpong exploited the guise of a romantic partner to gain the trust of his victims and subsequently defraud them out of substantial sums.
“The elaborate deceptions of Frimpong and his co-conspirators involved impersonating lovers, diplomats, customs officials, military personnel, and other fictitious entities,” the statement detailed.
Sandra Frimpong is shown here in a photo provided by the Samson County, NC, police department following his March 2023 arrest.
Frimpong entered a guilty plea to three counts of money laundering on Sept. 14.
According to the charge sheet, Frimpong held the rank of Army specialist. He migrated to the U.S. from the Republic of Ghana in 2015 on a K-1 fiancé visa, divorced his sponsor in 2018, and became a naturalized citizen shortly after.
The statement noted that Frimpong frequently laundered the stolen funds with assistance from connections in Ghana.
He Pretended to be a Government Official
For instance, one charge in the indictment cites Frimpong masquerading as a woman in 2020, deceiving a widower from New York. He impersonated being held by a Canadian customs officer named “Sanda Frimpong.” He requested $7,400 from the widower to help him get out of detention and assist in transporting gold bars out of Canada.
In another scenario in 2021, Frimpong, posing as a soldier stationed in Afghanistan, duped a divorcee into sending him $100,000 for travel and customs costs for transporting gold and diamonds. Following the transaction, Frimpong diverted the funds to two Ghanaian bank accounts.
Additionally, Frimpong and his associates in Ghana exploited stolen U.S. identities to lodge false claims for unemployment benefits and benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020.
West Africa, including Ghana, is widely recognized as a hub for romance scams. In 2023, an Interpol operation in the area led to 100 arrests and the confiscation of over two million euros.
The Federal Trade Commission reports that nearly 70,000 Americans fell prey to romantic fraud in 2022, with financial losses totaling up to $1.3 billion.
While military romance scams typically involve imposters posing as service members, actual soldiers can also be perpetrators or victims, with their images exploited by fraudsters.
In 2022, a man in Texas was apprehended for defrauding victims of nearly $1 million by impersonating an Army general.
US Attorney Michael Easley expressed this in the press release on Thursday:
“Romance scammers prey on our most defenseless citizens, including our elderly and military veterans, often leaving them in severe financial and emotional ruin. It is disgraceful that a soldier was engaged in these romance scams while enlisted.”
Be wary of anyone you talk to online that you haven’t met in person. If they start asking you for money or gift cards, that’s a huge red flag that something might be wrong.
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