• Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
  • Court documents say he used two fictitious women's personas between September 2020 and May 2024 to take $333,249.52 from a Portland resident.
  • Wire fraud carries up to 20 years in federal prison and money laundering up to 10. The US Attorney's Office release gives no sentencing date.
  • The US Attorney's Office does not name any dating app or platform.

Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Oregon to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering over a romance scam that took $333,249.52 from a Portland resident, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon announced on 3 November. According to court documents, Ham created fictitious personas of two women between September 2020 and May 2024 and used them to deceive an adult victim.

The dating angle is indirect: the release does not say the victim met the personas on a dating app and names no platform. Operators should still read it, because it shows what a long-running romance fraud looks like in dollars.

The DII Take

This scheme ran for more than three and a half years. A safety model built around the first days of a match would not be looking at that pattern. The case is a useful benchmark for trust and safety teams, even though nothing in it ties the fraud to a particular product.

How the scheme worked

According to the release, Ham falsely told the victim the women needed money for everyday living costs and nursing school fees, and to get away from prostitution and sex trafficking. In November 2022 he claimed one of them urgently needed funds to escape sex trafficking, and the victim transferred $36,872.35. Ham later used part of it to write an $18,500 cheque to his wife.

In March 2023 the victim transferred $20,922 from a retirement account, deposited into accounts controlled by Ham and his wife. The release does not describe his wife as charged.

In his plea agreement Ham accepted the facts behind both charges and agreed to repay the victim in full and to a forfeiture money judgment of $333,249.52.

In his plea agreement Ham accepted the facts behind both charges and agreed to repay the victim in full and to a forfeiture money judgment of $333,249.52.

The wider numbers

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 report records confidence/romance fraud losses of $929,287,469 from 23,159 complaints, against $672,009,052 for 2024. Losses for victims aged 60 and over were $584,032,745 in 2025.

A separate FTC Data Spotlight from April 2026 says nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it began on social media. FTC and FBI figures are different datasets and should not be compared directly.

What to watch

The release gives no sentencing date. KOIN reported that Ham pleaded guilty on 2 November, following an indictment by a federal grand jury in Portland earlier in 2026. The release itself gives no plea date.

  • The Ham case shows romance fraud losses can build through repeated, personal requests over years, which matters for any operator's detection window.
  • The IC3 2025 report puts confidence/romance losses at $929,287,469, with $584,032,745 from victims aged 60 and over.
  • Watch for Ham's sentencing date, which the US Attorney's Office has not announced.

Sources: Washington Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Money Laundering After Defrauding Victim of More Than $330,000 in Romance Scam (US Department of Justice, USAO District of Oregon); FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center); Data Spotlight: Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020 (Federal Trade Commission); Washington man admits to defrauding Portland victim out of $333K (KOIN 6 News)