Ghanain man pleads guilty to role in $100 million fraud ring

A Ghanaian national, Derrick Van Yeboah, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in a large-scale fraud operation that used romance scams and business email compromise (BEC) attacks to steal over $100 million from U.S. victims between 2016 and 2023; he agreed to pay more than $10 million in restitution, faces up to 20 years in prison, and was extradited with several named accomplices. The ring used social engineering to defraud vulnerable individuals and spoofed emails to trick businesses into wiring funds, with U.S.-based money launderers transferring proceeds to coordinators in West Africa.