A former New Bedford trickster, Chukwunonso "Douglas" Umegbo, who finessed lovelorn Americans in a romance scam, is now set to serve 42 months behind bars after his conviction for wire fraud and money laundering.

Umegbo, who assumed multiple aliases including James Abbott and Michael Philips, was sentenced in a Boston court where U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. clamped down on his fraudulent spree imposing a stiff 3.5-year sentence and slamming him with a bill of nearly $579,000 in restitution and forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The con artist's charades ran from at least 2018 through 2019, during which he wooed unsuspecting victims with phony online romances only to swindle their cash and siphon it through bank accounts set up with bogus ID documents, the prosecutors detailed, following his guilty plea to a slew of charges, including six counts of making false statements, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering

While playacting as a paramour, Umegbo managed to bilk over $568,000 before his crafty enterprise came crashing down; he was finally nabbed in London, extradited, and has been in federal custody since — the elaborate scheme roped in Massachusetts co-conspirators to keep the cash flowing even after he skipped the U.S., the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed.

The case against Umegbo sprang from combined efforts led by Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy along with top agents from the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations — with international muscle from the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs ensuring Umegbo's trans-Atlantic catch and subsequent prosecution by the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit's Assistant U.S. Attorneys.