Congolese Man Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud Conspiracy

PORTLAND, Maine: A Congolese man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Portland to conspiring to commit mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

According to court documents, from March 2015 to November 2016, Mukonkole Huge Kifwa, 35, participated in a conspiracy to obtain money through a fraudulent credit card scheme using an international mail carrier. Kifwa and his co-conspirators obtained unauthorized access to bank accounts belonging to unwitting individuals in the United Kingdom, with cash advances using fraudulent credit cards.

Kifwa faces up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The Scarborough Police Department; the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and the City of London (U.K.) Police Department investigated the case.