A 35-year-old Nigerian man will spend two years behind bars for orchestrating an elaborate romance scam that left American victims devastated and nearly $3 million poorer.
Charles Uchenna Nwadavid from Abuja was sentenced Wednesday in Boston federal court after pleading guilty to running fake romantic relationships that drained victims’ bank accounts between 2016 and 2019.
Judge Leo T. Sorokin handed down the two-year prison sentence, followed by supervised release for another year. But the real sting?
Nwadavid must pay back $2,724,810.41 to his victims – money that represented their life savings, retirement funds, and dreams of love.
After completing his sentence, Nwadavid faces deportation back to Nigeria.
The scam was heartbreakingly simple yet effective. Nwadavid and his accomplices created fake profiles on dating apps and social media, targeting lonely Americans searching for connection.
They spent weeks or months building trust, sharing fabricated life stories and fake photos.
Once victims were emotionally invested, the requests for money began – always with urgent, believable reasons like medical emergencies or inheritance paperwork fees.
One Massachusetts victim became an unwitting money mule, receiving funds from other victims across the country and forwarding them to Nwadavid through cryptocurrency exchanges.
The scammer even gained remote access to the victim’s accounts to transfer money directly to his own LocalBitcoins wallet.
“Romance scams exploit the vulnerability of people looking for love and can leave victims financially and emotionally devastated,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley during the sentencing announcement.
The FBI’s Boston Division worked alongside federal prosecutors Seth B. Kosto and Mackenzie A. Queenin to bring Nwadavid to justice after his arrest at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in April 2025, following a January 2024 federal indictment.
