Operation Gold Phish: Olaniyi Ojikutu Gets 88 Months, Alleged Leader Daniel Eta Gets 109 Months in Chicago Romance Scam Ring

Case from 2018–2025 (U.S. Attorney's Office latest release: Feb. 9, 2023; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Olaniyi Nasiru Ojikutu, 39, a Nigerian-born U.S. permanent resident who lived in Chicago, was sentenced Feb. 8, 2023, to 88 months in federal prison. He was among 10 people charged in "Operation Gold Phish," a Chicago-based investigation of online romance scams and other frauds aimed mainly at elderly victims, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois [1]. Daniel Samuel Eta, whom prosecutors described as the scheme's alleged leader, had pleaded not guilty at the time. Court records show he later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in April 2025 to 109 months [4].

How the schemes worked

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office [1] [2] [3]:

1. Romance scams. Defendants contacted victims on Match.com, Facebook and Instagram, built trust through a pretend online romance, and then persuaded them to send money.
2. Mystery shopper scams. According to the charges, victims were offered commissions to "evaluate" services such as Western Union and MoneyGram. They were sent a check, told to deposit it, withdraw the cash and wire it to a third party. The check was fake.
3. Business email compromise. The charges allege the defendants stole email logins or sent spoofed emails telling employees to change payment instructions. The money then went to accounts opened in fake names with fake passports.
4. Laundering. Ojikutu opened about 25 bank accounts over roughly three years, in his own name, a fake name and a shell company's name. About $3.4 million in fraud proceeds moved through them. He used the money for himself, including buying vehicles in the U.S. and shipping them to Nigeria for resale. Some victims lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The defendants

Olaniyi Nasiru Ojikutu, 39, Chicago [1]

• Flight: after learning of the charges in May 2019, he fled by bus to Canada. He was caught seven months later and turned over to U.S. authorities in January 2020.
• Plea: guilty to one count of wire fraud in July 2022.
• Sentence: 88 months, imposed Feb. 8, 2023, by U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey.

Daniel Samuel Eta ("Captain," "Etaoko"), 35 at the 2019 charges, Skokie. The 2019 indictment charged him with 12 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit a computer intrusion and passport fraud [2]. He was the only one of the nine defendants in U.S. custody who had not pleaded guilty as of February 2023 [1]. The judgment entered May 5, 2025, shows he pleaded guilty to Count 1. Judge Blakey sentenced him to 109 months in prison and three years of supervised release after a hearing that concluded April 24, 2025. The other counts were dismissed on the government's motion [4].

Others charged [2]: Babatunde Ladehinde Labiyi ("Junior"), Barnabas Oghenerukevwe Edjieh, Sultan Omogbadebo Anifowoshe ("Ayinde"), Babatunde Ibraheem Akarigidi ("AK"), Miracle Ayokunle Okunola and Olurotimi Akitunde Idowu ("Idol"), all of Chicago; Adewale Anthony Adewumi of Richardson, Texas; and Olaniyi Adeleye Ogungbaiye ("DonChiChi") of Lagos, Nigeria, who was in custody in Nigeria. As of February 2023, the U.S. Attorney's Office said all but one of the nine defendants in U.S. custody had pleaded guilty [1]. Court records show judgments entered in 2025 for Labiyi, Anifowoshe and Okunola [4]. We did not confirm individual outcomes for the others; any defendant whose conviction is not confirmed here is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with help from Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [1].

Red flags

• An online love interest who can't meet in person and soon asks for money.
• A "mystery shopper" job that sends you a check and asks you to wire part of it back or to a third party.
• Emails changing where a payment should go.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Never send money to someone you've only met online. Reverse-search their photos.
2. Never deposit a check and send money back. Fake checks can bounce days after your bank makes the funds available.
3. Report romance and other online fraud to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Olaniyi Nasiru Ojikutu, 39, Chicago	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to wire fraud (July 2022); sentenced Feb. 8, 2023, to 88 months	[1]
Daniel Samuel Eta ("Captain"), Skokie	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to Count 1; sentenced to 109 months and 3 years of supervised release (hearing concluded April 24, 2025; judgment May 5, 2025)	[1], [4]
Labiyi, Anifowoshe, Okunola	N.D. Ill.	Judgments entered in 2025 per court records; sentence terms not confirmed	[4]
Edjieh, Akarigidi, Idowu, Adewumi, Ogungbaiye	N.D. Ill.	Charged 2018/2019; individual outcomes not confirmed in public sources	[1], [2]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Chicago Resident Sentenced to Seven Years in Connection to International 'Romance Scam'," Feb. 9, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-resident-sentenced-seven-years-connection-international-romance-scam
2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Federal Indictment Adds 10th Defendant and Expands Charges Against 9 Others in International 'Romance Scam' Investigation," May 29, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/federal-indictment-adds-10th-defendant-and-expands-charges-against-9-others
3. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "9 Defendants Charged in Chicago in International Investigation Targeting 'Romance Scams' and 'Mystery Shopper' Schemes," Dec. 19, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/9-defendants-charged-chicago-international-investigation-targeting-romance-scams-and
4. CourtListener (RECAP), N.D. Ill. docket entries in United States v. Eta et al., including the May 5, 2025, Eta judgment. https://www.courtlistener.com/?q=%22Daniel+Samuel+Eta%22&type=r&court=ilnd

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