South Florida Woman Sentenced for Working as Money Mule in Romance Scams

Romance scammers have been banking — to the tune of billions of dollars — on the knowledge that loneliness and the desire for love can lead people to abandon a healthy sense of skepticism. Once they ingratiate themselves to their mark through a dating app or social media, the scammers tell tall tales of hardship and plead for financial support.

Vulnerable, often elderly victims have fallen prey in droves, sending vast sums of money to con artists posing as romantic partners. In 2023 alone, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 64,000 reports of romance scams, with losses totaling more than $1.1 billion.

With romance scams running rampant, police and federal law enforcement are scrambling to make a dent. A string of separate federal cases was recently brought against a Ghanaian model and influencer, a former U.S. Army service member, and a group of alleged scammers called the "Yahoo Boys," to name a few accused of cashing in on romance fraud.

Investigators busted one cog in the wheel here in South Florida — a woman who siphoned money to Ghana on behalf of romance scammers.

Cristine Petitfrere was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, illegal money remitting, and engaging in transactions with criminal proceeds last May. The 30-year-old later admitted to personally laundering millions of dollars as part of the scheme, according to federal court documents.

On January 7, she was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $203,816 in proceeds that she received from the scheme. If she had been convicted on all counts, she might have faced several years in prison.

From December 2019 to August 2023, Petitfrere, a Miramar resident, funneled money from romance scams to a person in Ghana, whom the indictment called "Co-conspirator 1," in exchange for a commission.

The indictment alleged that as-yet unidentified scammers duped three elderly victims in their 60s to early 70s into sending money to Petitfrere's bank accounts and, in one instance, a cashier's check to her Miramar-based company, GlamGoddessArtistry. Prosecutors say the three victims lived in Arizona, Indiana, and Virginia, respectively.

"The fraudsters would fabricate stories to the romance scam targets about foreign travel to explain why [they] were unable to meet...in person," the indictment reads.

At times, the scammers would also create fraudulent personas "who purported to be accountants, lawyers, or other associates."

"Using one or a combination of these personas, the fraudsters would attempt to convince the romance scam target that the romance interest had a need for money, such as to pay a tax or a business expense, and cause the romance scam target to transfer or transmit funds to other persons or accounts as directed by the fraudsters," the indictment reads.

In August 2022, a scammer allegedly persuaded the Virginia-based victim to send $23,670 to Petitfrere's bank account. Five days later, the investigators found, the victim sent $134,562 to another of her bank accounts. Prosecutors claim Petitfrere then transferred $121,050 on August 17 to her unnamed co-conspirator in Ghana.

Four months following her arrest, Petitfrere pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in federal court in September. According to her plea agreement, Petitfrere personally laundered nearly $3 million.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, reports of romance fraud have more than tripled over the last six years. The amount of reported losses, meanwhile, skyrocketed from $145 million in 2018 to more than a billion dollars in 2023.

In addition to the romance scam money laundering charge, the indictment listed 13 counts against Petitfrere for transacting in criminal proceeds for more than $2 million in other transfers to the co-conspirator's Ghanaian bank account.

Defendants convicted of laundering romance scam proceeds have not received light-handed punishments.

Last March, Syretta Scherer of Georgia was sentenced in Rhode Island court to three years and ten months for funneling money on behalf of a multimillion-dollar romance scam network.

The following month, Niselio Barros Garcia Jr. of Winter Garden, Florida, was hit with a four-year prison term for his role in laundering proceeds from romance scams, business email fraud, and other illegal activity.

"By facilitating the concealment of illicit profits, third-party money launderers enable large-scale transnational fraud schemes. This case underscores the department’s commitment to protecting consumers and disrupting the infrastructure that makes these crimes lucrative," said Department of Justice attorney Brian Boynton, head of the department’s civil division, in Barros Garcia's case.

High-profile romance fraud cases are pending across the nation as the feds look to crack down on the schemes.

Ghanaian social media influencer Mona Faiz Montrage (AKA Mona 4Reall), who at one point had more than three million Instagram followers, was busted in 2022 for participating in a sprawling catfishing fraud scheme while she was living in the Bronx.

Federal regulators warn online dating app users to be on the lookout for the telltale signs that their would-be romantic interest is a crook. When the time comes to meet in person, the scammers always have an excuse — "I'm sick," "I'm working on an oil rig," or "I'm in the military far away." While insisting on communicating from afar, they will fabricate stories of extreme hardship — cancer, impending financial ruin, or family tragedy — in order to con victims into sending money.