A 45-year-old Vancouver man has admitted to running a years-long romance scam that drained more than $333,000 from a Portland victim, using fake personas of women who claimed they needed help escaping sex trafficking. Rithy Ham pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with the scheme.
According to koin.com, Ham received $333,249.52 from the victim over the course of the scheme. Prosecutors say he posed as two separate women and convinced the victim that they needed financial help to escape sex trafficking, according to reporting from KGW. There is some discrepancy in how long the contact lasted — koin.com reports charging documents describe fraudulent contact occurring on multiple occasions between September 2020 and November 2024, while KGW's reporting cites court documents describing contact through two personas from September 2020 through May 2024.
Fake Identities, Real Financial Devastation
The scheme unfolded gradually, with the victim sending Ham tens of thousands of dollars on multiple occasions. In one instance, the victim transferred $36,872.35 to Ham, who later used part of those proceeds to write his wife a check for $18,500, per the outlet's report. Ham also persuaded the victim to transfer $20,922 from a retirement account into accounts he and his wife controlled, the same source's reporting indicates.
Prosecutors say Ham stole most of the money from the victim's retirement savings — a detail that underscores how deeply the fraud cut into the victim's long-term financial security. The station's report notes that Ham agreed, as part of his plea, to a forfeiture money judgment matching the full amount: $333,249.52.
Sentencing Exposure and What Comes Next
Ham's sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 9, 2027. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum federal prison sentence of 20 years, while the money laundering charge carries a maximum of 10 years, per the same account. As part of his plea, Ham also agreed to pay full restitution for the theft.
No sentencing outcome has been reported yet, and the case remains pending ahead of the February hearing.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Romance Fraud
Ham's case fits into a wider pattern of romance scams that federal authorities have been prosecuting across the country. The Federal Trade Commission has said nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform. A separate report from WSB-TV cites data from Spokeo estimating that romance scams cause $1.3 billion in losses nationwide every year.
Oregon has seen its share of high-dollar cases. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentencing of a British man who stole nearly $1.9 million from a Portland resident in an unrelated romance fraud scheme. And just last week, The Guardian reported that three people pleaded guilty in a $9 million romance fraud scam that targeted more than 130 victims across 25 states, as well as in Germany and Austria, with the scheme running from July 2024 to April 2026 and in some cases using AI-driven video platforms and fictitious female personas.
