NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using an online dating scheme to try and defraud sailors and Navy Federal Credit Union.
He was facing conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber with the Department of Justice said Samari Smith, 20, was involved in the scheme last year.
She said Smith worked with four other suspects to convince account holders to take money out of the bank and hand it over to them.
"Smith and his coconspirators targeted sailors in the United States Navy on online dating applications like Tinder by posing as women interested in a romantic relationship," she wrote. "Smith and his co-conspirators asked the victimized Sailors to withdraw and turnover funds – often under the guise of helping a relative in the Navy who was trying to send them money."
Smith defrauded four sailors who were stationed in Hampton Roads between April and August 2021, collecting more than $40,000.
Aber said two co-conspirators, including "the leader of the conspiracy," previously pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Trequan Smith, 21, and Emani Burton, 23, are both from Hampton. As a group, they defrauded sailors hundreds of thousands of dollars, Aber said.
Samari Smith will be sentenced in January and could face up to 30 years in prison.
