Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A Nigerian man who allegedly built a fortune preying on the loneliness of elderly American women has been extradited to the United States, arrested by the FBI, and is now facing up to 40 years in federal prison for his role in a sophisticated cross‑border romance fraud and money laundering network. Samuel Ugberaese, a 30‑something‑year‑old also known online as “Putsammy,” “Putput,” and “Sammy,” was extradited from Nigeria to the United States on Wednesday, May 14, 2026, following a coordinated extradition operation involving the Nigeria Police Force, the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and law enforcement agencies in South Africa. Ugberaese had been living in South Africa at the time of his arrest, but he was initially detained at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on December 14, 2025, after arriving on a flight from Johannesburg, following the issuance of an INTERPOL Red Notice at the request of American authorities.
The criminal enterprise, according to court documents, operated between 2014 and 2018 and specifically targeted female victims in the United States, with a particular focus on the Eastern District of North Carolina. The syndicate reportedly created fake online identities and dating profiles to establish fraudulent emotional relationships with victims, manipulating them into sending large sums of money under false pretences and fabricated emergencies. In one of the most devastating cases, Ugberaese was linked to the defrauding of a single victim of more than $1.5 million, a sum that wiped out the woman’s life savings and plunged her into financial ruin. The indictment further alleges that Ugberaese worked closely with a co‑defendant, Oluwadamilare Kolaogunbule, a naturalised U.S. citizen, who used his network of bank accounts to launder the criminal proceeds. Kolaogunbule allegedly provided accounts registered to purported export companies, helping to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the illicit funds.
On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Ugberaese had been formally charged and was being held pending trial. According to the DOJ’s statement, a federal grand jury had returned an indictment against Ugberaese as far back as January 22, 2021, but he could not be arrested until the extradition process was completed. Upon arrival in the United States, Ugberaese was produced before United States Magistrate Judge Brian S. Myers, who ordered that he remain in detention pending trial. The indictment charges Ugberaese with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted on both counts, he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, a sentence that would effectively amount to life imprisonment for the Nigerian national.
The successful extradition was the result of an extensive, multi‑agency international collaboration. In Nigeria, the extradition proceedings were handled by the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) Abuja, and the application for extradition was granted by the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division, under the Extradition Act, CAP E25, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. The Nigeria Police Force, through its spokesman DCP Anthony Okon Placid, confirmed that Ugberaese was handed over to U.S. authorities on May 14, 2026, following the conclusion of all legal processes. The U.S. Department of Justice also credited the assistance of the FBI’s Law Enforcement Attaché Office in Abuja, the U.S. Department of State, the South African Police Service, and Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Office for their roles in securing the arrest and extradition.
Despite the damning allegations, U.S. authorities have stressed that an indictment is merely an accusation and that Ugberaese is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The case is being prosecuted by the Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam F. Hulbig leading the prosecution.
The case of Samuel Ugberaese, known to his online followers as “Putsammy,” is yet another example of the brazen tactics employed by West African cybercriminals who use emotional manipulation to strip vulnerable individuals of their wealth. For the elderly women who believed they had found love, the betrayal was not just financial but deeply personal. Now, as Ugberaese sits in a North Carolina jail cell awaiting trial, the 40 years he faces represent the price of a romance that was never real and a future that was stolen.
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