Six Nigerians and a South African have pleaded guilty to participating in a large-scale international online fraud  in the United States about 15 years ago.

This was disclosed Friday by the Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr. of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New Orleans.

Gabriel Oludare Adeniran, 30, of Nigeria; Olusegun Seyi Shonekan, 34, of Nigeria; Taofeeq Olamilekan Oyelade, 32, of Nigeria; Olufemi Obaro Omoraka, 27, of Nigeria; Anuoluwapo Segun Adegbemigun, 40, of Nigeria; and Adekunle Adefila, 41, of Nigeria and Rhulane Fionah Hlungwane, 26, of South Africa, each pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. In addition, Hlungwane, Adeniran, Shonekan, Oyelade, Omoraka and Adegbemigun each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud and theft of government funds, the DoJ said in a statement.

According to the plea agreements, the defendants and their co-conspirators carried out numerous internet-based fraud schemes dating back at least to 2001.

These schemes involved using unsuspecting victims to cash counterfeit checks and money orders, using stolen credit card numbers to purchase electronics and other merchandise and using stolen personal identification information to take over victims’ bank accounts.  As a whole, the conspiracy involved tens of millions of dollars in intended losses.

The defendants admitted that, to accomplish their fraud schemes, they recruited the assistance of U.S. citizens via “romance scams,” in which the perpetrator would typically use a false identity on a dating website to establish a romantic relationship with an unsuspecting victim.

Once the perpetrator gained the victim’s trust and affection, the perpetrator would convince the victim to either send money or to help carry out fraud schemes.  For example, the defendants admitted that they used romance victims to launder money via Western Union and MoneyGram, to re-package and re-ship fraudulently obtained merchandise and to cash counterfeit cheques.

Nigerians have been nailed in massive online heist around the world. This development merely adds to the number and clearly showed that more investigations of online scam are being carried out by security agencies across the globe.