Washington Resident Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud in $333,249 Romance Scam

Federal prosecutors have secured a guilty plea from a Washington resident accused of running a years-long romance scam that drained over $333,000 from a Portland victim. Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. The scheme ran from September 2020 through May 2024 and relied on invented identities of two women who supposedly needed cash for daily bills, nursing school costs and escape from sex trafficking. “Believing the women were real and in danger, the victim sent money on multiple occasions.” The victim sent repeated payments after receiving messages from both Ham and the fabricated profiles.

BeCrypto News shows a short excerpt and links to the publisher. The full report belongs to The Daily Hodl.