Ghanaian scammer Dada Joe Remix admits to fleecing lovestruck Americans in decade-long fraud

By Yaw Opoku Amoako July 1, 2026

A Ghanaian fraudster has thrown in the towel and confessed to orchestrating a predatory scheme that weaponised romantic fantasy and false inheritance promises to extract millions from unsuspecting victims across the American heartland.

Joseph Kwadwo Badu Boateng — a digital personality operating under the alias “Dada Joe Remix” — entered a guilty plea to conspiracy charges related to wire fraud last week, according to court filings released by U.S. prosecutors in Arizona on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

The confession came with a financial reckoning: Boateng has agreed to remit approximately $4.4 million to compensate those whose savings and dignity he systematically plundered through calculated deception.

Boateng’s criminal enterprise operated across a full decade, beginning in 2013 and persisting until March 2023 before law enforcement finally dismantled the operation.

His hunting ground targeted retirees and vulnerable individuals scattered across Arizona and beyond — people whose isolation and longing for romantic connection made them susceptible to the seduction he fabricated through digital channels.

The mechanics of the scheme were deceptively straightforward. Boateng and his network of co-conspirators infiltrated online dating platforms, positioning themselves as legitimate romantic prospects.

Through sustained text exchanges and electronic communications, they cultivated false intimacy, gradually establishing themselves as trustworthy confidants in the lives of their marks.

Once emotional hooks had been firmly set, the con pivoted. The fraudsters introduced a supposedly life-altering opportunity: an inheritance of precious metals and gemstones awaiting release — wealth that required only the payment of administrative fees, tax liabilities and release charges before the riches could be transferred to the victim’s possession.

Elderly Americans, their judgment clouded by affection for individuals they believed to be genuine romantic partners, released wire transfers designed to “unlock” inheritances that existed only in the criminal imagination.

Boateng’s capture came through transnational law enforcement cooperation. He was arrested in Ghana on an extradition warrant on May 27, 2025, and surrendered to American custody the following month.

He has languished in custody ever since, awaiting the judicial reckoning scheduled for September 8, 2026, when United States District Judge Angela M. Martinez will determine his sentence.

The prosecution draws support from an international enforcement apparatus.

The FBI’s Legal Attaché in Accra coordinated with Ghana’s Attorney General’s office, the Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Organised Crime Office and Ghana’s INTERPOL contingent to facilitate the extradition.

The FBI’s Phoenix Division, through its Sierra Vista bureau, conducted the investigation, while prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson are pursuing conviction and sentencing.