A Ghanaian lady living in Maryland has been sentenced to 70 months in a federal prison in the United States for her involvement in a romance scam that duped people nationwide of over $1.6 million.
On July 22, 2026, the Southern District of Iowa sentenced Nana Takyiwa Adonu, 43, a resident of Odenton, Maryland.
Adonu was a key player in a conspiracy, according to court documents, where thieves fabricated profiles on social media and dating sites in order to take advantage of victims for financial benefit.
Adonu ran “Han-Dak LLC,” a shell corporation that took money from deceived victims, to handle the profits. Many of the victims were convinced they were helping a romantic partner by sending their life savings.
Due to the victims’ depletion of retirement funds, sales of homes and cars, return to work after retirement, and heavy borrowing from friends and family, the extent of the destruction was enormous.
The victim from Iowa alone suffered a loss of about $55,000.
Adonu tried to hide when the FBI confronted her. In order to hinder the inquiry, she provided fictitious invoices and customer lists in response to a federal grand jury subpoena. She also falsely claimed that Han-Dak LLC was a legitimate clothing production company in China.
Adonu was mandated to pay $1,655,640.76 in restitution in addition to her prison sentence. Following her release, she will be subject to three years of supervised release.
Naabanyin Aniagyei-Cobbold, her co-defendant, was sentenced to 108 months in jail and required to make restitution of more than $1.5 million earlier in March 2026.
Eugene Kowel, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Omaha Field Office, stated in a statement that “romance scammers exploit victims when they are at their most vulnerable.”
“They prey on innocent people by convincing them a relationship is real, then slowly abuse that trust to steal their life savings. This case is an egregious example of the ruthless persistence exhibited by scammers who enrich themselves at the expense of vulnerable people”.
Source: newsthemegh.com