A United States court has sentenced Tochukwu Albert Nnebocha, a 44-year-old Nigerian national, to 97 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable Americans. Nnebocha and his co-conspirators sent hundreds of thousands of personalized letters to US victims, claiming they were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased family members, and demanded payment for delivery fees, taxes, and other costs.
The scheme, which ran for over 7 years, defrauded over 400 US victims of more than $6 million. Nnebocha was arrested in Poland in April 2025, extradited to the US in September 2025, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in November 2025.
The court ordered Nnebocha to serve 3 years of supervised release and pay over $6.8 million in restitution to his victims. This is the second indicted case related to this international fraud scheme, with 8 co-conspirators from the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Nigeria previously convicted and sentenced.
Stay informed about the latest developments affecting Nigerians in the diaspora!
Follow us for more updates:
facebook.com/TheNidm
www.thenidm.com
#InheritanceFraud
