2 Ghanaians sentenced to U.S. prison for romance fraud, ordered to pay $581K each

Two Ghanaians have been sentenced in the United States and ordered to pay restitution of $581,261.67 each for their involvement in a romance scam targeting elderly Americans.

Sadia Alhassan, 35, and Mohammed Saaminu Zuberu, 39, along with Shawn William Smith, 26, were convicted for their roles in the scheme, which deceived vulnerable U.S. citizens into sending money to fictitious romantic partners.

Sadia Alhassan, a student visa holder from Tallahassee, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Mohammed Zuberu, her co-defendant and a dual U.S.-Ghanaian citizen from Aldie, Virginia, was given a sentence of approximately five and a half months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

Shawn William Smith, a resident of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced to one day in jail, followed by three years of supervised release, which will include 150 hours of community service. Smith had previously pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unauthorised money transmission business and conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud.

The scam, which operated from March 2019 to March 2022, involved individuals based in Ghana targeting elderly U.S. citizens through phone calls and online platforms. They fabricated romantic relationships to gain the victims' trust, ultimately convincing them to send money to their supposed partners, unknowingly participating in the fraudulent scheme.

Sadia Alhassan and her husband, Shawn Smith, acted as intermediaries for the funds. They received money packages sent via postal services or commercial carriers, which were then processed through accounts they controlled and forwarded to Mohammed Zuberu. Zuberu, in turn, communicated with the orchestrators in Ghana.

Court documents reveal that Zuberu coordinated the money transfers between Alhassan, Smith, and the Ghana-based masterminds. On at least one occasion, Zuberu sent Alhassan a tracking receipt for a package from one of the victims, informing the scammers when the funds had arrived.

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