Money mule pleads guilty

One of the men arrested while reportedly acting as a “money mule” for an overseas scam operation targeting area residents appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division December 1 and pled guilty to his charges.
Twenty-seven-year-old Osazuwa Presley Ikponmwosa, who listed a Houston, Texas address and is reported to be a U.S. citizen, entered a guilty plea to possessing an instrument of crime and was put on 12-month misdemeanor probation.

Ikponmwosa was also reported to have posed as an FTC agent and a representative of Pay Pal, according to the Baxter County Sheriff’s office.

He was dropped off by a friend at the address where the money was to be picked up and taken into custody at the residence after the exchange took place. The driver who brought Ikponmwosa to the address fled from the area in a vehicle.

He was later captured.

Another man facing charges stemming from involvement in scamming operations also appeared in court Monday.

No action was taken in the case of 31-year-old Wenyan Song because an interpreter could not be scheduled. Song is said to only be fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

The arrest of the “money mules” was part of a multi-day sting operation involving local, state, and federal agencies working with Trilogy Media, a group devoted to exposing scammers and their activities.

Trilogy Media airs videos of various operations carried out against scammers on YouTube.

The group has tracked down and exposed U.S. based individuals who work with foreign scamming organizations, such as the “money mules” involved in the recent arrests in this county. Trilogy has also mounted operations against large call centers housed in India.

It is estimated that India-based call centers scammed Americans out of billions of dollars last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Another man arrested in the recent scammer sting operation, Pruthihiraj Butiya, has been deported, according to an announcement from his attorney made in open court Monday.

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