A Nigerian national who helped run sextortion and romance scams against roughly 150 Americans made more than $2.5 million from the schemes, the Justice Department said on Sept. 22. Olamide Shanu, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court in Idaho to conspiracy to commit money laundering after being extradited from the United Kingdom. Prosecutors say the money moved through peer-to-peer payment apps and cryptocurrency wallets before reaching co-conspirators in Nigeria.
What Shanu Admitted and What Comes Next
According to the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs, Shanu entered his plea on Sept. 21 in the District of Idaho. The department said the cyber-enabled schemes he took part in defrauded approximately 150 American victims and caused millions of dollars in losses, and that Shanu himself made more than $2.5 million.
“Criminals, like Olamide Shanu, who prey on vulnerable victims in this manner rob them of their savings and sense of decency,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis for the District of Idaho said the plea “involving more than $2.5 million in laundered proceeds” reflects efforts to disrupt international criminal networks.
Shanu is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 15 and faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal judge will set the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. When he was first charged, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho said he also faced restitution for victims’ losses. The department has not announced any seized funds or a claims process for victims in this case, so any repayment would depend on what the court orders at sentencing and what money can be located.
Before the next payment-app request: Victims in this case sent money through transfer apps and crypto wallets while under pressure from someone they believed they knew, and the first calls after a payment like that decide what a bank can still stop. The order of those calls is set out in the first-hour recovery plan in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
How the Sextortion and Romance Schemes Worked
Court documents describe two scripts run by the same network. In the sextortion scheme, Shanu and his co-conspirators typically targeted men, persuaded them to send sexual images of themselves, and then threatened to send those images to the victims’ friends and family unless they paid. Victims were spread across the United States, including a college student in Idaho, according to the original indictment.
In the romance scams, the group used fake identities on social media to contact victims, typically older women and men, and built deceptive emotional relationships. After gaining their trust and persuading them they had a romantic future together, the scammers convinced victims to send money for various supposedly urgent needs.
“Financially motivated sextortion is a heinous crime that preys on fear, shame, and trust to exploit victims in deeply personal ways,” said Brent Daniels, assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations. The Secret Service and the Boise Police Department investigated the case.
A Money Trail Through Apps, Crypto Wallets and Nigeria
Prosecutors say proceeds from both schemes were laundered through peer-to-peer payment applications and several cryptocurrency wallet addresses before being transferred to co-conspirators in Nigeria. Those channels move money quickly and can be hard to reverse once a transfer is complete, which is why they are favored in fraud schemes. Shanu’s plea covers the laundering side of the operation: the movement and concealment of the money after victims sent it.
The prosecution has been running for nearly three years. Authorities in London arrested Shanu on Nov. 7, 2023, based on an indictment filed in Idaho, and he remained jailed until his extradition in September 2025. At that time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho said he faced an eight-count indictment that included wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, extortion, cyberstalking and money laundering conspiracy, and that he had fraudulently obtained at least $2 million.
The case is part of the Criminal Division’s Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative, a team of prosecutors assigned to find scammers who target Americans and trace their money. The department said its Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section has secured court orders for the return of more than $350 million in victim funds since 2020. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the State Department and U.K. authorities assisted with the extradition.
Why Older Americans Are in the Crosshairs
Federal data show older adults are losing the most to both types of fraud in the Shanu case. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report counted 10,188 confidence and romance fraud complaints from people 60 and older, with reported losses of about $584 million, up from about $389 million in 2024. The same report shows the 60-plus group reported $14.9 million in sextortion losses in 2025, the highest of any age range, even though younger people filed more complaints.
Overall, Americans 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025 and reported $7.7 billion in losses. The FBI notes that shame, fear and confusion often keep sextortion victims from asking for help.
The Federal Trade Commission’s core rule for romance scams is to never send money or gifts to a sweetheart who has not been met in person. Its romance scam guidance recommends cutting off contact when something seems wrong, talking with a trusted friend or relative, searching the person’s claimed job along with the word “scammer,” and running a reverse image search on profile photos to see whether they appear under other names.
The FTC advises anyone who paid a scammer by money transfer app, wire, card or cryptocurrency to contact the company or bank immediately and ask for a reversal, then report the fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Victims can also file with the FBI at ic3.gov. People 60 and older can call the Justice Department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).
When Shame Delays the First Report
Sextortion and romance fraud both rely on embarrassment to keep victims quiet, and every day of silence gives a payment more time to move through apps and wallets overseas. Having a plan in place before a threat arrives makes it easier to act rather than pay again.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit includes the family code word for bringing in a trusted relative early, the free credit-freeze steps for protecting identity information, and a fraud evidence and report log for saving screen names, wallet addresses and payment records.
The complete response is in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against the linked official sources.
