Man posed as love interest to scam Bradenton senior out of $31,000, police say
A scammer has been convicted of grand theft after scamming an elderly Bradenton widower while pretending to be a female love interest, according to police.
The Bradenton Police Department, assisted by the Bloomington Police Department in Minnesota, arrested Benjamin Yakah in 2024 after he posed online as a woman named “Julia” and scammed a 79-year-old Bradenton widower who believed they were in a legitimate relationship, according to police.
Bradenton detectives began investigating in June 2024, after the widower’s children alerted the department’s Elder Fraud Unit of their father’s online romance, police say.
They said he had met “Julia” on Facebook in 2023, and for eight months the man unknowingly was communicating with Yakah over Facebook Messenger while believing he was building a romantic relationship with Julia, according to police.
Yakah told the widower that Julia lived in the United Kingdom, and she planned to move to Florida after repaying a debt she owed to a man in Minnesota, according to the department.
In an effort to speed up her relocation, the Bradenton man sent cash, money orders and cashier’s checks to a home and bank in Minneapolis, and both addresses were tracked to Yakah, according to detectives.
Scammer sentenced after stealing from Bradenton man
In November 2024, Bradenton detective Jim Curulla traveled to Minnesota and arrested Yakah, who was using photos belonging to a West Virginia woman “who was unaware that she was a victim of identity theft,” the police department said.
After searching Yakah’s home, police found that there were three other victims being scammed in other states, the department said.
Earlier this month, after being extradited to Manatee County, Yakah pleaded no contest to second-degree felony grand theft, Bradenton Police said.
Yakah was sentenced to one year in jail and four years in probation. He must also repay the widower $31,000, which was the amount detectives could prove that the Bradenton man sent him, according to police.
Police say that romance scams are one of the most common tactics used to scam Americans, particularly elderly people. According to Bradenton police, local seniors lost $8 million to fraud and scams in 2025.
