A Ghanaian national pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in a fraud operation that stole more than $100 million from victims across the United States through romance scams and business email compromise attacks.
Derrick Van Yeboah, 40, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to pay more than $10 million in restitution. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on June 3.
How the Scheme Worked
The fraud ring, based in Ghana, targeted Americans between 2016 and May 2023. Members referred to themselves as “game boys” or “sakawa boys” and ran two parallel operations simultaneously.
In the romance scam arm, fraudsters built false online relationships with older Americans living alone, gaining their trust before convincing them to wire money into U.S.-based bank accounts. Those domestic middlemen laundered the funds, took a cut, and transferred the remainder to senior coordinators in West Africa known as “chairmen.”
The group also ran business email compromise attacks, using spoofed email addresses that impersonated customers or employees to trick companies into authorizing fraudulent wire transfers.
Van Yeboah personally conducted a significant portion of the romance scams described in the indictment. Prosecutors linked him to more than $10 million in individual losses.
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Arrests and Extradition
Van Yeboah was extradited to the United States in August 2025 alongside three alleged accomplices:
- Isaac Oduro Boateng, also known as “Kofi Boat”
- Inusah Ahmed, also known as “Pascal”
- Patrick Kwame Asare, also known as “Borgar”
The extraditions signal continued cooperation between U.S. law enforcement and West African authorities on transnational fraud cases, which have grown in scale and coordination over the past decade.
Prosecutor’s Statement
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton addressed the human cost of the scheme directly. “Many New Yorkers search for companionship online, and no one deserves to have their vulnerability met with fraud and theft,” Clayton said. “Van Yeboah cruelly exploited those vulnerabilities for over $10 million in illicit profit.”
Clayton added a public caution: “Never give money to someone you just met — and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Romance scams consistently rank among the costliest forms of consumer fraud in the U.S., partly because victims are often reluctant to report losses. Operations of this structure, with layered money laundering through domestic intermediaries and overseas coordinators, make recovery of stolen funds extremely difficult once transfers clear.
Van Yeboah’s sentencing is set for June 3 before Judge Subramanian in federal court.
Photo by Kabiur Rahman Riyad on Unsplash
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