This photo provided by Alexandria Sheriff’s Office, shows from left Richard Broni and Linda Mbimadong. (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via AP)
NEW YORK – A couple from New York City who was part of a scam that took $580,000 from a 78-year-old man will be sentenced Friday in Virginia. The man was the latest victim in a growing trend known as romance fraud.
Ghanian nationals Linda Mbimadong, 29, and Richard Broni, 31, played relatively minor roles in the scam. Prosecutors described them as “money mules” who never made contact with the victim themselves but helped receive and launder the money in return for a 5% to 10% cut of the proceeds.
The Annandale man believed he was in a romantic relationship with a woman he met on a social network called iFlirt. She pretended to be widowed woman in her 30s, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
As the online relationship grew, though, the scam started to emerge. The woman, who claimed to be from New York, said she was arrested while traveling to Germany to retrieve an inheritance of gold bars, and needed money to make bail. The man paid it, only to get another message that she was arrested a second time and needed even more money.
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