CNN WIRE - Aug 26 - In March 2016, a man claiming to be a US Army captain stationed in Syria reached out to a Japanese woman on an international site for digital pen pals. Over 10 months, she sent him a total of $200K that she borrowed from friends, her ex-husband and other relatives. But he did not exist. It was all an international online scam run by two Nigerian men in the Los Angeles area with the help of associates in their home country and other nations, federal officials say. And Thursday, US prosecutors charged 80 people (mostly Nigerians) in the widespread conspiracy that defrauded at least $6M from businesses and vulnerable, elderly women. Of those, 17 people have been arrested in the US so far and federal investigators are trying to track down the rest in Nigeria and other nations.
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