81-year-old American woman helps online lover in Nigeria commit fraud for 7 years

An 81-year-old American citizen has pleaded guilty for two counts of identity theft committed with an online romantic interest who claimed to be based in Nigeria.

Glenda Seim confessed to her participation as a money mule in various fraudulent schemes on behalf of her lover, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.

The Kirkwood resident began an online relationship with her co-conspirator who claimed to be an American citizen with business interests in Nigeria in 2014.

The co-conspirator told Siem he could not leave Nigeria unless he paid numerous fees, taxes, and penalties to the Nigerian government or his business associates.

He asked for her assistance to make those payments, and she initially started sending him money from her Social Security retirement benefits and pension.

This arrangement proceeded into her helping him pawn electronic equipment that he had others send to her in the mail so she could forward the funds to him.

Siem also helped her partner commit fraudulent schemes that included receiving MoneyGram wire transfers from senders she did not know, depositing counterfeit and fraudulently obtained checks into financial accounts she opened, and accepting unemployment insurance benefit payments on behalf of individuals she did not know.

"A check drawn on the retirement account of a romance fraud victim in the amount of $100,000 was among Seim's fraudulent deposits. Seim kept a portion of the funds fraudulently obtained before providing the balance to her online romantic partner," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Siem ignored numerous warnings by wire transfer agencies, local police officers, federal law enforcement representatives, and bank representatives, and even the forced closure of her financial accounts to continue facilitating the transfer of funds to her online lover.

She attempted to conduct fraudulent transactions between $550,000 and $1,500,000 between June 2014 and February 2021.

Siem only ever communicated with her co-conspirator via text until she was caught this year.

She is scheduled to be sentenced next February.