A 74-year-old retired teacher in Tennessee killed himself after losing nearly $100,000 to a romance scam, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast.
Police believe the man’s suicide was a direct result of being extorted by a New Jersey couple, the complaint states.
While the pair’s arrest has been previously reported, their victim’s death has not been revealed until now. The complaint, filed in Greeneville, Tennessee federal court, contains heartbreaking new details about the alleged fraud, saying Chinagorom Onwumere, 34, and Salma Abdalkareem, 27, had the target, a former schoolteacher, convinced he was romantically involved with an unnamed celebrity.
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The two were arrested Nov. 20 by officers with the Piscataway Township Police Department.
Onwumere is a recently minted member of the Army National Guard, Department of Defense spokesman Bryce Dubee told The Daily Beast. A Piscataway resident, Onwumere joined the Guard last February and is assigned to a finance unit as a specialist, one grade higher than a private first class, according to Dubee.
Eva Velasquez, a former investigator for the San Diego District Attorney’s Office who now serves as president and CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, said the organization’s most recent study noted a sharp increase in fraud victims having thoughts of suicide after being conned.
The case demonstrates “something that we’ve been really trying to get people to pay attention to, and that is the emotional impact of these crimes,” Velasquez told The Daily Beast. “A lot of people make the assumption that it’s just not that big of a deal, you know, You weren't physically harmed, or It’s not a violent crime. Well, you now have an unfortunate real-world example of someone who didn’t just contemplate [suicide], but actually carried it through.”
At about 7:45 p.m. on Oct. 23, a lieutenant with the Washington County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to an address in the town of Jonesborough, according to the complaint charging Onwumere and Abdalkareem with three federal felonies.
There, the officer came upon an elderly man with a gunshot wound to the head, it says, noting that the death was subsequently ruled a suicide. The Daily Beast is withholding the identity of the victim, who is not named in court filings but was described in his obituary last month as a beloved former educator who enjoyed football, golf, and spending time with his grandchildren.
Two days later, the man’s family discovered a trove of worrying emails on his tablet, and brought the device to police, the complaint goes on. He had been in touch since mid-August with someone “who the victim thought was Person 1, a well-known female actress,” and a name investigators “immediately recognized,” according to the complaint.
“While the victim was engaged in email communications with who he thought was Person 1… [he] began getting emails that purported to be from the United States FBI,” the complaint explains.
The emails were sent from “unitedstates.fbi283738@gmail.com,” and warned the man that Person 1 was suing him for sexually harassing her in their email exchanges, the complaint continues. However, the bogus FBI agent claimed, the man could settle things out of court—for a price.
Over the course of three days in early October, the man “sent several checks to who he thought was the United States FBI for their so-called penalties,” the complaint states. One, for $4,500, was made out to a company registered in Onwumere’s name, and sent certified mail to the Northern New Jersey home he and Abdalkareem share, the complaint says. Another was allegedly made out to the FBI, with “Agent Salma Abdalkareem” written on the memo line. The duo “scolded the victim for writing the check to the FBI[,] stating that it would raise suspicion,” according to the complaint.
“The scammer stated that there would now be a $40,000 penalty since the victim did not follow directions,” it says.
Investigators say they believe the victim’s suicide was a direct result of his being defrauded.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of TennesseeOn Oct. 5, the man went to his bank in Johnson City, Tennessee, and got a cashier’s check for $41,000, payable to Onwumere, which he sent to an address in Takoma Park, Maryland, the complaint states. The next day, the man was instructed to send another cashier’s check, this one for $25,000, to Abdalkareem, at home in New Jersey, it says. He again went to the bank, and this time took out a $25,000 loan against his personal vehicle in order to free up sufficient funds, according to the complaint.
Investigators in Tennessee subpoenaed bank records, which showed the victim’s checks had been deposited into accounts in Onwumere and Abdalkareem’s names, the complaint says. Further tying them to the caper, security video from an ATM in Colts Neck, New Jersey, showed the two depositing one of the man’s checks into a joint checking account they shared, according to the complaint.
“They both work to attempt in getting the check to deposit, finally the check deposits, and they depart,” the complaint states. “Onwumere was wearing a USA shirt with a coat and an Army hat.”
A Nov. 9 search by police of Onwumere and Adbalkareem’s tidy suburban home turned up an envelope from the victim addressed to the FBI, according to the complaint. When confronted with images of the checks the victim had written the couple provided “conflicting stories” to cops.
“Adbalkareem claimed that they received checks to help Nigerians buy cars in the U.S. and Onwumere claimed that he was getting money from Nigeria for a friend of his that he met in basic training,” the complaint says.
As an Army National Guard financial management technician, Onwumere works in the service branch’s Finance and Comptroller Corps.
“You’ll use your expertise in math to provide financial advice and recommendations for units looking to purchase services and supplies for their missions,” the Army website tells prospective recruits. “You’ll also be in charge of military pay, overseeing services with commercial vendors, auditing, accounting, banking operations, and more.”
The local investigator who originally found the elderly man dead collaborated on the case with agents from Homeland Security Investigations. He “believes that the extortion of the victim through Abdalkareem and Onwumere led to his suicide,” according to the complaint.
All told, investigators allege Onwumere and Abdalkareem’s ruse extracted “more than $90,000” from the victim—a number local cops think could be even higher. Both now face federal charges of mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and impersonating an officer of the United States.
While members of the military are not necessarily any more, or less, likely to commit crimes than the general population, what is particularly unusual about this case is that the perpetrators were ultimately caught, according to Velasquez.
Normally, the people behind online scams, and especially romance scams, are holed up in other countries that don’t necessarily have extradition treaties with the U.S., she pointed out. What Onwumere and Abdalkareem did was not a sophisticated ruse, exposing their real names and address in the process, and weren’t thorough enough to cover their tracks, Velasquez said.
Those who are victimized by online fraudsters should not be viewed as gullible or easy marks, according to Velasquez. The senior citizen allegedly targeted by Onwumere and Abdalkareem, she said, “was lied to, and they believed that lie.”
“That is a human experience that every single person reading this story can relate to,” she argued, noting that the shame and humiliation of being defrauded can often be as bad, if not worse, than the monetary loss. “We have all, at some point in our lives—if you’re past the age of 10—been lied to. And you believed that lie.”
Onwumere and Abdalkareem remain detained on $500,000 bond; their next appearance before a judge has not yet been scheduled. Neither Onwumere and Abdalkareem yet have attorneys listed on the federal docket, and were unable to be reached.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.
