A Nigerian citizen, Tochuwku Nnebocha, aged 43, has been extradited from Poland to the United States to answer federal charges in connection with an elaborate inheritance scam that investigators say defrauded elderly Americans of millions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the development on Monday, disclosing that Nnebocha made his initial appearance in a Miami federal courtroom following his transfer from Polish custody. He had been arrested in April 2025 by Polish authorities on the basis of an indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida and had remained in detention abroad until his extradition.
According to prosecutors, Nnebocha operated the fraudulent scheme for more than five years, targeting vulnerable seniors with personalized letters. These letters claimed the recipients were beneficiaries of multimillion-dollar estates left by deceased relatives in Spain. To gain access to the supposed inheritance, victims were instructed to pay fees, taxes, and delivery charges, with the assurance that such payments would prevent government interference. None of the victims ever received any funds, as the entire narrative was a fabrication. Investigators revealed that the payments were routed through an intricate chain of intermediaries, including U.S.-based former victims who were manipulated into transferring money on behalf of the fraudsters.
The charges brought against Nnebocha include conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as substantive counts of mail and wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, although the final decision will rest with a district court judge who will consider federal sentencing guidelines and other legal factors. Two of his co-defendants, Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata and Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, who were extradited from Portugal and the United Kingdom respectively, have already pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 97 months each in prison for their involvement in the same scheme.
The Department of Justice stressed that the case underscores its broader commitment to safeguarding senior citizens from scams that continue to thrive globally. Officials pointed to similar schemes such as romance fraud, lottery hoaxes, bogus technical support services, and so-called grandparent scams, all of which have cost older Americans vast sums of money and, in many cases, their life savings. According to the DOJ, these scams are designed to prey on the trust and vulnerability of elderly victims, leaving them financially and emotionally devastated.
The investigation that led to Nnebocha’s extradition was the result of cooperation between the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, the Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Florida, the FBI’s Legal Attaché in Poland, INTERPOL, and Polish law enforcement agencies. In a statement, the DOJ said the move demonstrates the United States’ determination to pursue fraudsters wherever they may operate, adding that such extraditions reflect its commitment to accountability and justice.
Nnebocha’s case is the latest in a string of international fraud prosecutions involving Nigerian nationals. Earlier this year, another Nigerian, 39-year-old Chukwuemeka Amachukwu, was extradited from France to New York to face charges of computer hacking, identity theft, and fraud after his arrest by French authorities at the request of the United States. Officials emphasized that these prosecutions are part of a wider crackdown on transnational fraud networks that exploit vulnerable populations both in the U.S. and overseas.