Prison
Picnews
A Nigerian man, Tochukwu Albert Nnebocha, has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a US court for his role in a multimillion-dollar inheritance fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable Americans. Nnebocha, 44, was found guilty of conspiring to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and has been ordered to pay over $6.8 million in restitution to his victims .
The scheme, which ran for over seven years, involved sending personalized letters to elderly individuals in the US, claiming they were entitled to a multimillion-dollar inheritance from a deceased relative. The letters, which appeared to be from a Spanish bank, instructed victims to pay various fees, including delivery fees and taxes, before they could access the supposed inheritance.
Over 400 Americans were defrauded of more than $6 million through this scheme. Nnebocha was arrested in Poland in April 2025 and extradited to the US in September 2025. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 and was sentenced to 97 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release .
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) described the scheme as a “lucrative transnational inheritance fraud scheme that exploited vulnerable people in the United States”. Nnebocha’s co-conspirators, eight of whom have already been convicted and sentenced, were from the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Nigeria.
The investigation was led by the US Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the FBI’s Legal Attache in Poland, INTERPOL, and Polish authorities. Senior Trial Attorney Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorney Joshua D. Rothman of the DOJ’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
This is the second indicted case related to this international fraud scheme, highlighting the efforts of law enforcement agencies to combat such crimes. The DOJ has urged victims of financial fraud to report their cases to the National Elder Fraud Hotline.
The sentencing of Nnebocha serves as a warning to those involved in similar schemes, and demonstrates the commitment of US authorities to protecting vulnerable individuals from financial exploitation.
