Admin l Wednesday, April 28, 2021
PITTSBURG, Pennsylvania – A citizen of Cameroon extradited from Romania to the U.S. was today arraigned over puppies fraud scheme he perpetrated against American consumers.
Desmond Fodje Bobga, 28, was arraigned at the federal district court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after his extradition from Romania. Bobga is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, forging a seal of the U.S. Supreme Court, and aggravated identity theft. He could face up to 20 year imprisonment upon conviction.
According to the charges filed against him, between June 2018 to June 2020, Bobga knowingly conspired with others to offer puppies and other animals for sale on internet websites. He and others communicated by text message and email with potential victims to induce purchases. Following each purchase, Bobga and co-conspirators claimed that a transportation company would deliver the puppy or other animal and provided a false tracking number for the pet.
Bobga and his co-conspirators, acting as the transportation company, then claimed the pet transport was delayed and that the victim needed to pay additional money for delivery of the pet. Bobga and co-conspirators told some victims that they needed to pay more money for delivery because the pet had been exposed to the Coronavirus. The perpetrators used false promises and bogus documents regarding shipping fees and Coronavirus exposure to extract successive payments from victims.
Among the fake documents were a “Refundable Crate and Vaccine Guarantee Document” that purported to have been issued by the “Supreme Court of the United States of America” and bore the seal of the Court, along with the signature of a Clerk of the Court.
After Bobga and the co-conspirators received money through wire communications from the victims, they never delivered the pets.
“The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting fraud schemes that take advantage of American consumers, including schemes that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania and to the FBI for their partnership on this matter, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of Romanian law enforcement.”
“From across the globe, Desmond Fodje Bobga and his co-conspirators callously exploited consumers who were seeking the companionship of a pet to alleviate the isolation and stress caused by the COVID pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “Today he stands before the court in Pittsburgh to face justice.”
“Mr. Bobga created false websites to advertise puppies or other animals, communicated with customers in the U.S., obtained payment and then provided nothing in return,” said FBI Pittsburgh Acting Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples. “His extradition to Western Pennsylvania to face these accusations sends a message to others looking to exploit victims in the U.S. that the FBI will stop at nothing to find you and put a stop to these scams.”
How Bobga scammed victims: One victim, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, was seeking to purchase a mini-dachshund for her mother in mid-March of 2020. Victim 1 was induced to lose $9,100 due to false claims that the puppy was being shipped, needed insurance, and was exposed to COVID-19;
Another victim, of Fruitland, Iowa, was seeking to purchase a mini-dachshund for herself in mid-March of 2020. False claims induced Victim 2 to lose $1,840; and
A couple in Dallas, Texas, who were seeking to purchase a dog and lost $1,800, were induced to make successive payments based on claims about transportation issues and other matters.
The criminal charges include a reference to a website, lovelyhappypuppy.com, to which Bobga allegedly directed numerous victims to view puppies that he fraudulently claimed to sell:
