MN Man’s Romance Scam Targeted Lonely Elderly People: Feds

ST. PAUL, MN — A Brooklyn Park man was sentenced last week to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution for facilitating a national romance fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced.

Dodzi Kwame Kordorwu, 38, pleaded guilty in December to one count of mail fraud.

In handing down the sentence on Oct. 22, Judge Eric C. Tostrud called out the way Kordorwu’s scheme specifically targeted elderly victims experiencing loneliness.

"The only word I have to describe the nature and circumstances of [Kordorwu’s] offense is 'cruelty,'" he said.

In May 2018, Kordorwu and his fellow schemers began targeting elderly victims and luring them into sending money under false pretenses.

Schemers impersonated real or plausible but fictitious persons, such as a senior U.S. diplomat or military official, who contacted the victims through online social media applications.

The schemers tried to build a romantic connection with the victims, and then asked them for money to help with a fabricated issue.

Some schemers introduced victims to a supposed third-party who backed the false persona’s story and helped with the fraud. Victims were eventually directed to mail large sums of money to a specific name and address.

In total, Kordorwu received over 250 victim packages containing over $2 million in fraud proceeds throughout the scheme, prosecutors said.

Kordorwu funneled the fraud proceeds through shell companies and new bank accounts to make the transactions seem less suspicious.

Kordorwu kept some proceeds for himself and sent the rest to other perpetrators, authorities said.