# Stephen Odiboh gets 33 months for dating site and Facebook scam

> By DII Newsroom | Edited by Bill Alena | Published: 2026-10-08T15:00:00+00:00 | Section: Daily News | Source: https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/news/stephen-odiboh-sentenced-33-months-dating-site-facebook-scam | Publisher: Dating Industry Insights (High Intent Media Inc)

A Rochester federal judge sentenced Stephen Odiboh to 33 months and $196,500 in restitution over a romance scam with $356,500 in total loss and attempted loss.

## Key points

- Stephen Odiboh, 53, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison by Judge Charles J. Siragusa for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
- Odiboh was ordered to pay $196,500 in restitution, against a total loss and attempted loss of $356,500 across four victims between 2023 and March 2025.
- Odiboh approached a 77-year-old woman on Facebook, according to the release; co-conspirators contacted two other victims on dating websites that the release does not name.
- Odiboh was one of eight people charged in September 2025 under the Western District of New York's Save our Seniors initiative.

## Article

- Stephen Odiboh, 53, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
- He was ordered to pay $196,500 in restitution; total loss and attempted loss across four victims was $356,500.
- He approached a 77-year-old woman on Facebook; co-conspirators reached two other victims on dating websites.
- The U.S. Attorney's Office release does not name the dating sites.

A federal judge in Rochester has sentenced Stephen Odiboh, 53, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, to 33 months in prison for a romance-fraud conspiracy that ran through Facebook and online dating websites. U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa also ordered $196,500 in restitution, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office release dated 8 October 2026.

The dating angle is partly indirect. Odiboh himself approached the lead victim on Facebook, while the release says co-conspirators contacted two others on dating websites, which it does not name.

### The DII Take

Dating platforms are one of several entry points in cases like this, and the sentencing release treats them as generic "websites". The pattern is familiar to trust and safety teams: first contact on a platform, then requests for gift cards, cheques, wires and app-based payments such as Zelle and CashApp. Detection that stops at the platform's edge catches little of it.

### How the scheme worked

Between 2023 and March 2025, Odiboh conspired with co-conspirators to defraud four victims, with a total loss and attempted loss of $356,500.

The release says he contacted a 77-year-old Western New York woman on Facebook in 2023, posing as a Norway-based widower called 'Oliver Wilson'. She sent about 30 gift cards worth $500 each, then mailed eight cheques totalling over $162,000, including two to Odiboh. Her bank stopped two further cheques, totalling $158,000, before they could be cashed.

A co-conspirator posing as 'William Rivera' reached another victim on a dating website, and that victim sent $2,000 to Odiboh via CashApp. Another co-conspirator, posing as 'Alec Jonas', contacted a fourth victim on a dating website, and that victim wired $17,525 to an account he controlled. A caterer who was asked to forward $2,000 to Odiboh via Zelle sent nothing after realising a cheque was fraudulent.

### Context and what to watch

The FTC said on 27 April 2026 that nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it began on social media, and that Facebook produced more reported losses than any other social platform. The FTC cautions that its 2025 data is incomplete because it did not collect reports during the government shutdown.

Odiboh was one of eight people charged in September 2025 under the "Save our Seniors" initiative, which the U.S. Attorney's Office said covered over $11M in actual and attempted losses. Restitution is well below the $356,500 total, and the release does not explain the gap.

- Federal prosecutors in Western New York are pursuing romance fraud as elder-fraud cases, with Odiboh's 33-month sentence following charges brought in September 2025.
- Operators should expect investigators to follow payment trails through Zelle and CashApp as well as platform contact, and to leave the dating sites unnamed.

Sources: [IRS Criminal Investigation](https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/georgia-man-going-to-prison-for-scamming-victims-out-of-tens-of-thousands-of-dollars); [WSB-TV](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-man-uses-online-romance-schemes-trick-victims-out-356k/OSLWQ2HUPNCXPHLUM6FJT32OBA/); [13WHAM](https://13wham.com/newsletter-daily/man-sentenced-for-fraud-scheme-targeting-seniors-in-western-new-york); [U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York](https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/save-our-seniors-efforts-results-eight-arrests); [FTC Data Spotlight (2026)](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2026/04/reported-losses-scams-social-media-eight-times-higher-2020); [FTC press release](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/04/new-ftc-data-show-people-have-lost-billions-social-media-scams); [FTC Data Spotlight (2023)](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed); [Spectrum News](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2025/09/16/8-arrested-in-massive-elder-fraud-case--u-s--attorney-in-western-new-york-says-); [Hoodline](https://hoodline.com/2026/10/georgia-man-gets-33-months-after-posing-as-widower-in-ny-fraud-scheme/)

## Key takeaways

- Prosecutors in Western New York treated the Odiboh romance scam as an elder-fraud case, and the sentencing release leaves the dating sites unnamed, limiting what platforms can learn from it.
- Money in the Odiboh case was sought through gift cards, cheques, wires, Zelle and CashApp, so platform-side detection alone would not have caught the money movement.
- FTC data published on 27 April 2026 shows Facebook produced more reported losses to scams than any other social platform, though the FTC says its 2025 data is incomplete.

## FAQ

### How long was Stephen Odiboh sentenced to prison?

A federal judge in Rochester sentenced Stephen Odiboh, 53, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, to 33 months in prison and ordered him to pay $196,500 in restitution.

### Which dating site was used in the Odiboh romance scam?

The U.S. Attorney's Office release does not name the dating websites. It says co-conspirators contacted two victims on them, while Odiboh approached the lead victim on Facebook.

### How much did the Odiboh scam cost victims?

The release puts total loss and attempted loss at $356,500 across four victims. Some payments were stopped by a bank or never deposited.

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