Accused con man to be sent to Pittsburgh

Ghana native held on fraud charges

The FBI says a man adopted the identity of a McDonald postal worker and conned at least eight women into wiring him hundreds of thousands of dollars, in addition to fooling a South Korean steel firm into sending him $375,000 by posing as a rap artist’s agent.

Sigismond Senyo Segbefia, 28, a Ghana native who lives in Silver Spring, Md., was arrested this week at JFK International Airport in New York based on a criminal complaint filed by a Pittsburgh FBI agent.

A second African native who is living in Florida is also under investigation, the FBI said, but has not been charged.

The complaint details a hodgepodge of fraud schemes that prosecutors said Mr. Segbefia carried out by posing as other people, and at least some of the money he is accused of pilfering ended up in bank accounts in Ghana and South Africa.

At least two of the female victims live here, as does the 54-year-old postal employee in McDonald whose identity he is accused of stealing.

Using the man’s name, according to the FBI, he established an account on the ChristianMingle.com dating site and then pretended he was an Australian businessman selling medical equipment.

He struck up a friendship with a 61-year-old Western Pennsylvania woman and then told her he was traveling to England to sell equipment but was having trouble with customs officials there. She wired him money, then he told her of other problems he was having in England for which he needed more money. The FBI said she sent him a total of 13 wire transfers for $207,500.

In a similar scheme, Mr. Segbefia found a mark in a 48-year-old local woman who also sent him three wire transfers for a total of $177,000, the FBI said.

In a separate fraud, Mr. Segbefia is accused of conning a South Korean steel concern, Dosko Co., by posing as the agent for singer Pharrell Williams. The steel company wired Mr. Segbefia $375,000 to schedule Mr. Williams for a concert in Seoul, the FBI said.

In yet another scheme, the FBI said Mr. Segbefia intercepted and then stole a $23,000 check that a Utah firm, Moroni Feed Co., had sent to one of its vendors.

Mr. Segbefia was being held in New York, but the case will be transferred to Pittsburgh.