A Ghanaian national has pleaded guilty in the United States to his role in an international fraud ring that used online romance scams and business email compromises to steal millions of dollars from victims. Derrick Van Yeboah, also known as “Van”, admitted before a United States District Court in New York that he participated in a scheme that targeted vulnerable individuals, many of them elderly, through fraudulent online relationships. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced the guilty plea in a statement on Thursday, March 5, 2026. “Derrick Van Yeboah pled guilty today to a massive criminal scheme targeting elderly men and women in online romance scams,” Mr Clayton said. He added that many victims had turned to online platforms in search of companionship but were instead defrauded. “Many New Yorkers search for companionship online, and no one deserves to have their vulnerability met with fraud and theft. Van Yeboah cruelly explo...