Press Release
☷Cameroonian Citizen Sentenced for Online Pet Purchasing Conspiracy
U.S. Department of Justice ( By Press Release office)
Apr 28,2022
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A Cameroonian national was sentenced today to 21 months in prison and two years of supervised release for his role in a scheme to trick American consumers into paying fees for pets that were never delivered and for using the COVID - 19 crisis as an excuse to extract higher fees from victims . “The Department of Justice will pursue criminals anywhere in the world when they target and exploit American consumers through fraud schemes , including when they take advantage of the circumstances presented by the COVID - 19 pandemic , ” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M . Boynton , head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division . “We appreciate our partners at the U . S . Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the FBI , as well as the assistance from Romanian law enforcement in arresting and extraditing this defendant . ”Desmond Fodje Bobga , 29 , was extradited to the United States from Romania in April 2021 . According to court documents , from approximately June 2018 to approximately June 2020 , Bobga conspired with others to offer pets for sale on internet websites . He and others communicated by text message and email with potential victims to induce purchases . Following each purchase , Bobga and co - conspirators claimed that a transportation company would deliver the pet and provided a false tracking number for the pet . Bobga and his co - conspirators , posing as the transportation company , then claimed the pet transport was delayed and that the victim needed to pay additional money for delivery of the pet . Bobga and co - conspirators told some victims that they needed to pay more money for delivery because the pet had been exposed to COVID - 19 . The perpetrators used false promises and bogus documents regarding shipping fees and COVID - 19 exposure to extract successive payments from victims . Once Bobga and the co - conspirators received money directly and indirectly through wire communications from the victims , they never delivered any pets . “While many people came together to support each other during the pandemic , this defendant chose to use COVID - 19 as a means to defraud the victims in this matter and he will now serve a prison sentence to answer for that crime , ” said U . S . Attorney Cindy K . Chung for the Western District of Pennsylvania . “Our office remains committed to addressing all types of fraud committed in relation to the pandemic . ”“Mr . Bobga was a scam artist , plain and simple , ” said Special Agent in Charge Mike Nordwall of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office . “He exploited those who were looking for comfort during the COVID pandemic and cashed in at their expense . The FBI is firmly committed to holding fraudsters like Mr . Bobga accountable . ”The FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office investigated the case . The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance . Law enforcement authorities in Romania , including the Romanian National Police , Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the Cluj Brigade for Combating Organized Crime , provided significant cooperation . Assistant U . S . Attorney Christopher M . Cook for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Wei Xiang of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch prosecuted the case . On May 17 , 2021 , the Attorney General established the COVID - 19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic - related fraud . The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by , among other methods , augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms , identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes , and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts . For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic , please visit https://www . justice . gov/coronavirus . Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID - 19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud ( NCDF ) Hotline at 866‑720‑5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www . justice . gov/disaster - fraud/ncdf - disaster - complaint - form .
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