American octogenarian involved in $1.5m fraud for Nigerian lover awaits sentence

An 81-year-old United States citizen, Glenda Seim, has pleaded guilty for involving in fraudulent schemes on behalf of her Nigerian online lover to satisfy him.

A grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri had indicted Seim for two counts of identity theft related to her participation as a “money mule” in various fraudulent schemes on behalf of her online romantic interest.

A “money mule” is a person who receives fraudulently obtained money and merchandise on behalf of a scammer, and then forwards the proceeds to the scammer.

The 81-year-old woman participated in fraudulent schemes including receiving MoneyGram wire transfers from senders she did not know; depositing defrauded funds into financial accounts she opened; allowing her online boyfriend to fraudulently transfer funds from the financial accounts of various businesses into her financial accounts; and accepting unemployment insurance benefit payments on behalf of individuals she did not know despite warnings and threatened by wire transfer agencies, federal law enforcement representatives, bank representatives and others to forced closing of her financial accounts.

In the indictment, the octogenarian in 2014 began an online relationship with an individual who claimed to be a United States citizen with business interests in Nigeria while the male lover asked for Seim’s assistance in paying fees, taxes, and penalties to the Nigerian government or his business associates claimed he could not leave Nigeria unless he paid those funds.

Seim, according to the court document, began sending him money from her Social Security retirement benefits and pension and later sold electronic equipment that he had others send to her in the mail and forward the funds to him.

Between June 2014 and February 2021, according to the indictment, the octogenarian attempted to conduct fraudulent transactions between $550,000 and $1,500,000.

United States District Court Judge Stephen Clark accepted Seim’s guilty plea on Tuesday and scheduled to pronounce the sentence on February 10, 2022.