by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
A Maryland man has swindled $375,000 from a South Korean steel company by pretending to work for a Japanese talent agency on behalf of musician Pharrell Williams, said the FBI.
Sigismond Segbefia, 28, faces multiple charges, including wire fraud, bank fraud and identity theft. According to the Associated Press, Segbefia stole the identity of a Pennsylvania postal worker and used it to bilk more than $445,000 from women he met on dating websites.
FBI agents said that Segbefia, a Ghana native residing legally in the U.S., used a company he incorporated in Maryland back in October 2013 called Eastern Stars LLC to pull off his various scams. From December 2013 to August 2014, he used the company’s name to trick one woman into lending him $185,000, making her believe that his fake medical equipment business kept running into financial difficulties.
Segbefia dropped his company’s name once more when he contacted Dosko Co. Ltd., a steel manufacturer in South Korea. The firm was interested in booking Williams for a concert in Seoul and wired $375,000 to Eastern Stars LLC last August, believing that the company represented the singer in Japan.
Before Dosko wired the large sum, Segbefia provided them with fake documents, email addresses and the names of Williams’ actual management team, making his claims seem legitimate. However, when he withdrew more than $113,000 from the Eastern Stars bank account the day after the wire transfer, the Korean steel firm grew suspicious. The firm attempted to recall the $375,000, effectively freezing the con artist’s bank account.
Federal customs officials arrested Segbefia on Tuesday at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, according to the Associated Press. He was released on bond but is under house arrest until he appears before a federal judge May 14 in Pittsburgh.
Needless to say, Dosko is not very “happy” about being conned.
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