OKLAHOMA CITY – A Nigerian citizen living in Oklahoma City admitted defrauding an Alabama woman in a “romance scam,” and a co-conspirator living in Texas, admitted committing passport fraud.
Abdul Waris Akinsanya, 26, was charged in May 2023 with conspiracy to defraud.
Federal prosecutors alleged that co-conspirators of Akinsanya tricked the Alabama woman into sending $2,650 in money orders through the mail by claiming that “Dr. Steven Michael,” a fake persona, “was stuck in Jordan and did not have access to his funds.”
The victim acquired $2,650 in Western Union money orders and sent the money orders by FedEx to a drug store in Oklahoma City, where they were collected by “Mike Smith,” a fake persona attributed to Akinsanya.
Akinsanya deposited the six money orders into a Tulsa bank account that he opened using an alias and a forged passport.
Akinsanya was arrested May 14, 2020, at the Tulsa bank after he inquired about an account that had a negative balance and the teller notified the Tulsa Police Department.
Numerous passports, driver’s licenses and credits cards in eight bogus names were found in his possession, along with a Wildlife Department fishing license and two bank statements in false names.
Akinsanya admitted to Tulsa police that he had been working with Busayo Adeosun of Houston, Texas. Akinsanya claimed he sent his photo and $350 to Busayo, and in exchange received fake passports and identification documents that he used to open bank accounts.
He also said there were “a few different individuals” involved in the fraud.
“ln late 2019 and early 2020 I agreed to assist people that I knew were obtaining money through romance scams,” Akinsanya wrote to the federal court. “I would set up bank accounts under false names using documents provided to me by those people into which they would have wired money obtained through the romance scams. I would then withdraw the money and send it to the person I was told to send it to and would keep a percentage of the money as payment for my assistance in the process.”
Akinsanya signed a plea agreement in May 2023, federal court records reflect.
U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton sentenced Akinsanya on March 5 to serve 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $2,650 in restitution to the victim. In addi tion, Akinsanya agreed to forfeit $20,000 in cash “representing the proceeds obtained as a result” of his crimes.
Busayo Opeyemi Adeosun, 38, was indicted in late 2021 on three counts of passport fraud. He pleaded guilty in 2022, to a sing le count and the other two were dismissed by federal prosecutors.
Adeosun, who claims to have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, wrote that his “ignorance and moral code of helping others in need led me to make a poor decision” that will have “a huge impact on me, my spouse and my children.”
He was sentenced by Heaton on March 21, 2023, to a y ear and a day in federal prison.