14 DAY TRIAL // Ten people were indicted for their roles in running an advance-fee fraud operation that involved sending traditional 419 scam emails to people.
Advance-fee fraud is a common type of scam where the attacker promises a big reward, but asks the victim to send a sum of money in advance to help secure it.
This concept has existed for over a century, but one variation of such fraud became popular on the Internet in the '90s under the name of 419 scams or Nigerian Letters.
The 419 scammer sends emails posing as the widow of a wealthy banker, an attorney or a diplomat, who has access to a big inheritance and wants to move out of the country.
They claim that for this they require the help of a foreign citizen and promise to split the money with whoever helps transfer it.
The majority of the ten individuals indicted for running such scams are from California, including the suspected leader of the gang, Claudio Uche Dibe, 25.
Dibe fled to Canada in 2009 when he learned of the investigation. He was recently extradited back to the US in order to face 15 fraud charges.
The fraudster pleaded not guilty yesterday, along with some of his collaborators, Bright Amesi, 25, Briceson Loving, 25, and Erika Fletcher, 24.
The three were indicted in February along with six others. According to Channel 6 News, Amesi and Loving were each charged with 15 counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy.
Fletcher, together with Ezenwa Ihenachor, 28, of Gardena, Devon London, 22, of Los Angeles, Ellis Allen, 26, of Los Angeles, Wynterrose Rogers, 25, of Brooklyn, Lanisha Andrews, 25, of Brooklyn, and Veronica Littlejohn, 43, of Gardena, were charged with ten counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy.
All defendants risk life in prison if found guilty of all charges. Seven of them have pleaded not guilty.