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Florence Mwende Musau pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and was sentenced to 44 months in prison and ordered to repay $957,000 in restitution and forfeit $350,000 and a Lexus SUV, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said.
Investigators said Musau took part in a conspiracy where criminals would create fake profiles on dating apps to swindle cash from victims. To hide the money, she used falsified passports under several aliases to open bank accounts across Boston where she would deposit the swindled proceeds. She would then drain the accounts but made sure to make large cash withdrawals below $10,000 in an attempt to avoid detection and federal banking disclosure laws.
Prosecutors said Musau also received fraudulent state pandemic unemployment assistance benefits in the victims' names. She used three different aliases to open 10 bank accounts and received about $1 million in fraud proceeds, officials said.
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