Nigerian suspects linked to global Internet scams – FBI

A 252-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Thursday has named 80 defendants charged with defrauding victims of up to $10m in one of the largest Internet scams in US history. Legalbrief reports that two Nigerian men based in Los Angeles and several of their associates in their home country and other nations have been flagged as the ‘kingpins’ who used various cyber fraud methods to attempt to steal $40m from victims around the world. Fourteen arrests have been made so far. The unsealed indictment shows the evolving tactics of online fraudsters which has seen them continue to dupe unwitting victims despite numerous awareness campaigns. Voice of America reports that the FBI said Valentine Iro and Chukwudi Igbokwe were well-known operators who went by a raft of pseudonyms. Between 2014 and 2018, they facilitated a series of schemes in more than 10 countries. The scammers victimised individuals and small and large businesses. In targeting businesses, they used a tactic called ‘business e-mail compromise’ (also known as CEO fraud). Under that scheme, a fraudster gains access to a company’s computer system and then, posing as a company executive, tricks an employee into making an unauthorised wire transfer into a bank account the fraudster controls. Diaspora Commission Chief Abike Dabiri-Erewa urged ‘those accused in Nigeria to voluntarily turn themselves in to American authorities to clear their names’. She added that Nigeria would extradite the defendants ‘if relevant international treaties between the two governments are invoked’.

The Hawks are investigating the South African victims who have allegedly been fleeced out of money in an online dating scam allegedly carried out by a local Nigerian. A report on the IoL site notes that Hawks spokesperson Captain Philani Nkwalase confirmed that several South Africans were duped. ‘We’re working with different authorities and we will investigate the South African victims. There are a lot of victims who lost their money,’ he said. Christiano Ogbeinfun appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court this month on charges of fraud and money laundering and was not asked to plead. He remains in custody.

Previously, the scams associated with Nigerians involved dating sites as well as phony e-mail business propositions, but their current tactics appear to have changed. Quartz Africa reports that through business e-mail compromise scams (BEC), fraudsters use hacked e-mail accounts to convince businesses or individuals to make payments that are either bogus or similar to actual payments owed to legitimate companies. As part of the scam, fraudsters learn about key personnel in companies who are responsible for the payments as well as the protocols necessary to perform wire transfers in various companies and then target businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments. FBI assistant director Paul Delacourt said in the first seven months of 2019 alone, the FBI received nearly 14 000 complaints reporting BEC scams with a total loss of around $1.1bn which nearly matches losses reported for last year.