Three people have pleaded guilty in a $9m romance fraud scam, according to a report from The Guardian, which said the US attorney's office in the northern district of Ohio announced the pleas on Monday.

The Guardian identified the defendants as twin brothers, 22, from Ghana, and a 53-year-old American woman. The report said the three pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to commit wire fraud" and that they targeted older adults in 25 US states.

BBC News reported that the same group targeted elderly people across the United States and Europe. According to that report, the group lured victims into romantic relationships before persuading them to transfer large sums of money.

The two reports differ on the scope of the scheme. BBC News describes victims in the United States and Europe, while The Guardian's summary refers only to older adults in 25 US states. Neither summary says how many people were targeted in each place or how much each victim lost.

Both accounts describe the same basic method, in which the group built romantic relationships with victims and then asked them to send money. Neither summary describes how that contact was made or how the money was moved.

The summaries also do not give the names of the defendants, the penalties they face, or the date on which sentencing is scheduled. The Guardian is the only one of the two sources to name the US attorney's office as the body that announced the pleas.

Sources: BBC News: Ghanaian twin brothers and US woman plead guilty to $9m romance scam; The Guardian: Three plead guilty in $9m romance fraud scam targeting elderly Americans.