After attempting to steal $25.2 million from almost two dozen public and private organizations across the United States, including at least one in Oregon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has charged two Nigerians with $6.2 million in wire fraud.
This has increased the number of Nigerians who have recently been detained and accused of engaging in various types of fraud outside of their home country.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that an 11-count indictment charging Efeturi Ariawhorai aka Efeturi Simeon, 35, a dual citizen of Nigeria and Vanuatu who most recently lived in the United Arab Emirates, and Ikenna Nwajiaku, 41, a Nigerian national thought to be residing in or close to Lagos, Nigeria, with conspiracy to commit fraud aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon’s Assistant United States Attorney Quinn Harrington stated, “Federal law enforcement is determined to use every tool and capability it has to pursue cybercriminals and recover money that has been inadvertently routed to unauthorized bank accounts. We commend the local victim in this case for coming forward swiftly to report the crime and provide law enforcement the best opportunity to get their money back. Unfortunately, a lot of these circumstances turn out to be quite expensive diversions. When in doubt, we urge anyone who believes they have been a victim of a cybercrime to contact the FBI right once. The clock is ticking.”
“The kind of selfishness it takes to steal from schools and hospitals, especially during the height of a global pandemic, is beyond disturbing,” said Special Agent in Charge Keiran L. Ramsey. Many of these victims responded quickly, allowing the FBI and our Recovery Asset Team to freeze funds and recover the majority of the stolen funds. In fact, we were able to save that money from criminals and recover the whole loss of almost $3 million for a victim in Oregon. Please contact the FBI as soon as you can if you have been the victim of a cyberattack or fraud scheme; we are here to assist.
According to the Department of Justice’s indictment, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku conspired to defraud numerous public and private entities located across the United States, including numerous school districts, universities, colleges, and hospitals, starting in June 2019 and continuing until January 2021.
In the course of their scheme, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku would send emails to companies, pretending to be professionals from businesses that did business with the targeted company, such as construction firms, and persuade the companies to send money to bank accounts that were controlled by third parties acting on Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku’s behalf.
Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku employed fictitious identities, a variety of identity-concealing technologies, including virtual private networks, compromised servers, and leased equipment, to hide their fraudulent conduct. To deceive victim organizations, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku would also register email addresses and internet domain names with small variations on the names of legitimate corporations.
Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku attempted to steal almost $25.2 million from 20 victim organizations over the course of just over a year and a half. The scam cost 15 of the victim organizations a total of $6.2 million.
An accusation is made in a criminal complaint, information, or indictment. The statement went on to say that a defendant is presumed innocent until and until and until found guilty.
