ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Georgia man has been sentenced to prison for his role in an elder fraud scheme that targeted senior citizens in Western New York.
Stephen Odiboh, 53, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison and also ordered to pay $196,500 in restitution. He was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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Federal prosecutors say between 2023-2025, Odiboh worked with seven others to commit wire fraud against four different victims.
In one of those cases, prosecutors say Odiboh pretended to be a man named Oliver Wilson who he claimed was a U.S. citizen, a widower, and currently living in Norway. Over the course of about a year and a half, Odiboh created a romantic online relationship with a 77-year-old woman in WNY as Wilson.
Odiboh told the woman he needed gift cards to keep talking to her. Prosecutors say as a result, the victim sent him about 30 $500 gift cards, totaling about $15,000. He also got the victim to mail him about eight checks totaling over $162,000.
In August, a man from Bangladesh pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme. In one case, the man pretended to be from the “Geek Squad” to get a 73-year-old man from WNY to give them $28,000.
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