Chillum man sentenced in pet-selling fraud scheme

BALTIMORE, Md. (DC News Now) — A Chillum man was sentenced Thursday for a pet-selling fraud scheme that resulted in over $900,00 being stolen from victims, according to the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Maryland.

Anomah Ndonwi, 32, will serve 30 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court documents, from September 2019 through December 2022, Ndonwi falsely sold pets online, including dogs and horses, with the victims never receiving the animals they purchased.

The victims would respond to a fake listing posted by Ndonwi and would pay him through a wire or electronic app, but would not receive the pet or a refund.

Court documents state that meat products and other agricultural goods were also falsely advertised for sale by Ndonwi, with victims, often from foreign countries or businesses, never receiving the products they ordered.

To access the payments from the schemes, Ndonwi opened at least 14 bank accounts, mainly based in Maryland, under different aliases. According to the USAO, at least 12 of the accounts were created with fake passports from the Republic of Cameroon.

The USAO states that, in total, Ndonwi received at least $930,105 from the scheme and targeted ten or more victims.