From ‘Hushpuppi’ to ‘Sandy Tang’

 

By Oludayo Tade

Twelve months ago, Ramoni Abbas (37 years) popular known as ‘Hushpuppi’ was arrested in Dubai for alleged money laundering from business email compromise fraud and other scams which targeted firms, and an English premier league. He made a total sum of $435million after defrauding 1,926,400 victims. A year after, Abidemi Rufai (also known as ‘Sandy Tang’), a Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties to Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, was also arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, at John F Kennedy Airport, New York over criminal complaint of defrauding Washington State Employment Security Department of $350,000 (N144,375,000).

The ‘stolen’ funds were pandemic relief designed by the Washington State for people who might have suffered job losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fraud incident occurred during lockdown and the investigation bureau began tracking the alleged fraudster who would have been at the Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives ‘making laws’ if he had not lost the Ijebu North/Ijebu East/Ogun Waterside Federal Constituency election to Adekoya Adesegun of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The fraud was perpetrated by stealing identities of more than 100 Washington residents and filing falsified claims with the Employment Security Department, ESD, for pandemic-related unemployment benefits. For each identity stolen, a separate e-mail account was created so that the claims would be associated with different persons and it can escape automatic fraud detection systems. Thereafter, more than $288,000 was paid into his American bank account between March and August 2020.

After one year of ‘diligent investigation and tracking’, USA waited for Rufai’s visit and trapped him as he was trying to Jáápa (escape in Naira Marley’s construct) through the Airport. The United States Department of Justice explained that “since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020, we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief”.

Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman vowed that “this is the first, but will not be the last, significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of ESD fraud”. This shows they are still tracking others connected to this palliative fraud. If these wire fraud allegations are proven, the Ijebu-born Senior Special Assistant to Ogun State Governor may spend up to 30 years in jail.

Cybercrime is a global threat to individuals, organisations and countries. Nigeria loses more than $128billion to cybercrimes annually. By the end of 2021, the world would have lost a total of $6trillion. Till date, over 40 Nigerians have been or are being investigated by the FBI for their complicity in fraudulent scams. Some have been convicted and serving different jail terms but we do not hear about them because they are relatively unpopular unlike flambuoyant social media celebrity, Hushpuppi or are not politically exposed like Abidemi Rufai.

For instance, Esogie Osawaru, 27, was arrested in Boston in June 2020 alongside Nosayamen Iyalekhue for their involvement in wire fraud, romance scam and pandemic unemployment insurance fraud. Both of them have pleaded guilty. In Indianapolis, Ismaila Fafunmi pleaded guilty to money laundering charges related to romance fraud and grant fraud scheme in 2020.

The trio of Olufemi Oluwaseun Banjo (37), Francis Nwabueze Iwuoha (38) and Oluwadamilare Gbenga Macauley (32) were charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy. They are at large and the Minnesota authorities believe they are back in Nigeria. These are few of the many cases involving Nigerians in the USA. However, these deviant characters do not represent the majority of hardworking Nigerians involved in legitimate businesses and contributing to the growth and development of their host country.