A Nigerian, Alex Afolabi Ogunshakin, has been extradited to the United States to answer for charges of fraud after topping the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s, FBI, Cyber’s Most Wanted List for $6,000,000 [N4,654,500,000] fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr announced last Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Ogunshakin is alleged to have participated in a business email compromise, BEC, scheme from January 2015 to September 2016.
According to the FBI, he and his co-conspirators defrauded over 70 businesses in the US resulting in a combined losses of more than $6 million. They posed as the chief executive officer, president, owner, or other executives of the targeted companies.
“Using e-mail accounts spoofed to make it appear as though they were from the company’s true business executive, Ogunshakin’s co-conspirators directed business employees or recipients of the e-mail to complete wire transfers,” a statement on the US Department of Justice’s website read.
“The business employees, believing the requests were legitimate, complied with the wire transfer requests and wired the money as instructed by Ogunshakin’s co-conspirators.”
Ogunshakin participated in the fraud by providing the bank accounts that were used to receive the numerous fraudulent wire transfer. He also sent the spoofed emails to the target businesses used to solicit fraudulent wire transfers.
Ogunshakin was indicted in the US district court in Nebraska on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2019.
He was arrested in Nigeria in September and ultimately surrendered to the US after the Nigerian government granted the U.S.’s request for extradition – submitted in May 2020.
Ogunshakin had an initial appearance on the Indictment on September 29, 2023. United States Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson ordered his detention pending trial.
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