COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Westerville man who scammed people for $1.8 million through fraud schemes was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Thursday.
Prince Oduro, 34, was involved in multiple fraud and money laundering schemes for several years, including through his employment at a bank and through online romance scams, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
In 2015, while working for JPMorgan Chase Bank in Columbus, he stole a customer's bank information before calling to gain access to the account and opened a PayPal account. Oduro then transferred $12,500 of the customer's money to the PayPal account before withdrawing it in cash for himself. He tried to do another $8,000 transfer but it was denied.
Over the next two years, Oduro stole the personal information of at least four other victims. He would open PayPal accounts linked to the stolen information and use the accounts to launder the proceeds of online scams. In total, through March 2020, he received and laundered at least $1 million.
Victims sent money to individuals who they believed needed a medical operation, had been an American soldier in Afghanistan, were building roads in Dubai, had access to gold or silver, or other schemes. Oduro then laundered the fraudulent proceeds.
In one of the schemes, the victim was told by Oduro her late husband had allegedly stored valuable artwork and other items in Atlanta. The story seemed plausible to her because her husband traveled extensively. The victim sent about $390,000 to bank accounts controlled by Oduro to receive her husband's purported assets.
When law enforcement executed a search warrant on Oduro's phone, they found messages in his WhatsApp saying, This is the only business in America I can do and make 20k in a month and not get arrested…I’m locating money, I’m not fraud anyone…It’s called money laundering.”
Oduro was arrested in February 2022 and pleaded guilty in January 2023.
After being arrested and after pleading guilty, Oduro continued his romance fraud. Before his first arrest, he caused about $1.1 million in money loss. He caused another $709,500 in losses after his arrest.
After investigators discovered the fraud, he was arrested again in November 2023.
In addition to the 102 months in prison, he is ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution.