Ghanaian twin brothers and US woman plead guilty to $9m romance scam

ByGabriela Pomeroy and Thomas Naadi, BBC Africa, Reporting fromAccra. 27 October 2026, 18: 43 GMT.

Key points

• During the period of July 2024 to April 2026, the victims collectively lost $9m (£6.7m).
• The 22-year-old twins, Jamal and Kamal Abubakari, and 53-year-old Amanda Joy Opoku-Boachie from Hawaii face up to 20 years in jail and will be sentenced next year.
• The case against Kumi is being prosecuted under the US Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution law.
• Earlier this month, FBI Director Kash Patel remarked it had produced hundreds of arrests after dismantling a scam centre in Ghana.
• While plenty of of the victims were from Ohio – where the charges were brought – residents were additionally located in 24 other US states, Germany and Austria.

Twin brothers from Ghana and an American woman have pleaded guilty to charges of being part of an international criminal network which defrauded individuals they met on dating sites and social media.

Meanwhile, the group targeted elderly individuals in the US and Europe, using fake identities to lure their victims into believing they were in a romantic relationship, before persuading them to transfer substantial sums of funds into bank accounts in Ghana.

Meanwhile, the 22-year-old twins, Jamal and Kamal Abubakari, and 53-year-old Amanda Joy Opoku-Boachie from Hawaii face up to 20 years in jail and will be sentenced next year.

As part of the plea, the Abubakaris and Opoku-Boachie agreed to forfeit pieces of jewellery which investigators seized at the time of their arrest, including luxury watches, rings, chains and earrings. The individuals go by a number of names.

In recent months the US authorities have stepped up their crackdown on criminal networks operating in the US and West Africa which seek to defraud elderly Americans.

In June, a Ghanaian social media influencer known as Abu Trica, whose real name is Frederick Kumi, was extradited to the US to face trial for allegedly running a romance scam that defrauded elderly Americans of over $8m (£5.9m).

He targeted victims through social media and online dating platforms, is accused of requesting funds or valuables under false pretences, such as urgent medical needs.

For context, the case against Kumi is being prosecuted under the US Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution law. He denies all the charges against him. You may additionally be interested in. Ghanaian influencer extradited to US over $8m scam targeting elderly Americans. For context, the ultra-violent cult that became a global mafia. The fake sex chats fuelled by an elaborate scam. Dead in 6 hours: How Nigerian sextortion scammers targeted my son. Mass arrests in global crackdown on West African cyber-crime networks.

Go to BBCAfrica.com, external for more news from the African continent.

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