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Man Guilty in Web Dating Scam; Also Ran Pharrell Show Scheme

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who the FBI says conned a South Korean steel company out of $375,000 by falsely claiming he could help them book a Pharrell concert has pleaded guilty to online dating scams that cost a western Pennsylvania woman and others nearly $1 million.

Twenty-nine-year-old Sigismond Segbefia, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft before a federal judge in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

The FBI says he conned women he met on Match.com and Christianmingle.com into wiring him more than $980,000 by posing as an Australian businessman and others.

In pleading guilty, he also acknowledged bilking Dosko Co., a South Korean steelmaker, by pretending to promote a show by the pop singer.

Segbefia, who is from Ghana, has agreed to be deported after he is sentenced in April.