Scam role puts man in prison
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 67-year-old Honolulu man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in an Internet bank fraud scheme that has been associated with Nigerian con artists.
Federal prosecutors believe that Yoshiki Fujimoto is the first person convicted in Hawai'i for his involvement in the Nigerian scam. The scheme involves people who often claim to be with the Nigerian government who send letters or e-mails, saying they are willing to share large sums of money in return for bank account information or a person cashing fraudulent checks and wiring the Nigerians money.
Fujimoto pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud. On Monday, he was sentenced to two years in prison by U.S. District Judge David Ezra.
Fujimoto was contacted by a Nigerian in the summer of 2002 who offered him a large sum through a third person, according to court documents. Fujimoto was sent a $245,000 check, payable to himself, that was drawn on a New York bank.
But prosecutors said the check was stolen, "washed" clean and then made payable to Fujimoto. They said he attempted to deposit the check in his Territorial Savings account on July 19, 2002, but was told by a bank official that the check was fraudulent and part of a scam.
Fujimoto ignored the warning and used the check to open an account at another bank, prosecutors said. He then wired $100,000 to accounts in New York and Indonesia, prosecutors said.
Federal Deputy Public Defender Michael Weight said his client pleaded guilty because "he accepted responsibility for his involvement." Weight said that Fujimoto had just lost his printing business and that he was financially desperate.
"He sunk every nickel he had into the business to try keep it afloat and lost everything, including his house," Weight said. "When you're desperate, you don't want to listen to reason. You want to believe that this was real and it was going to happen and it was OK."
Weight said he hopes this case serves as a warning to others who receive similar Nigerian correspondence by mail or e-mail.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Seabright said many cases involve individuals who lose money, but in the Fujimoto case it was a bank that lost money. Seabright said it's nearly impossible to retrieve the money once it is wired to someone out of state.
"These are fraud artists —they understand the banking system," Seabright said.
When the scheme surfaced years ago, people were contacted through the mail. Recently, scam artists have flooded personal and business e-mails with the offer.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
