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The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation, Monday, said it had arrested 74 ’email scammers’, 29 of them Nigerians in a global operation.

The bureau also said the criminal scheme, which was used by the suspects, originated from Nigeria.

The FBI said 42 suspects were nabbed in the U.S., 29 in Nigeria, and three others in Canada, Mauritius, and Poland.

Some of those arrested were working as part of a larger network of criminal organisations, while others acted alone, the bureau said.

In a statement published on the agency’s website, it said, the operation was a coordinated effort by the federal authorities including the Department of Justice and the FBI aimed at intercepting illegal wire transfers from businesses and individuals across the globe.

The statement on Monday by the DoJ reads in full:

Federal authorities announced today a significant coordinated effort to disrupt Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes that are designed to intercept and hijack wire transfers from businesses and individuals, including many senior citizens.

Operation Wire Wire, a coordinated law enforcement effort by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, was conducted over a six month period, culminating in over two weeks of intensified law enforcement activity resulting in 74 arrests in the United States and overseas, including 29 in Nigeria, and three in Canada, Mauritius and Poland. The operation also resulted in the seizure of nearly $2.4 million, and the disruption and recovery of approximately $14 million in fraudulent wire transfers.

BEC, also known as “cyber-enabled financial fraud,” is a sophisticated scam often targeting employees with access to company finances and businesses working with foreign suppliers and/or businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments.

The same criminal organizations that perpetrate BEC also exploit individual victims, often real estate purchasers, the elderly, and others, by convincing them to make wire transfers to bank accounts controlled by the criminals.

This is often accomplished by impersonating a key employee or business partner after obtaining access to that person’s email account or sometimes done through romance and lottery scams. BEC scams may involve fraudulent requests for checks rather than wire transfers; they may target sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII) or employee tax records instead of, or in addition to, money; and they may not involve an actual “compromise” of an email account or computer network. Foreign citizens perpetrate many BEC scams.

Those individuals are often members of transnational criminal organizations, which originated in Nigeria but have spread throughout the world.

“Fraudsters can rob people of their life’s savings in a matter of minutes,” said Attorney General Sessions.

“These are malicious and morally repugnant crimes. The Department of Justice has taken aggressive action against fraudsters in recent months, conducting the largest sweep of fraud against American seniors in history back in February. Now, in this operation alone, we have arrested 42 people in the United States and 29 others have been arrested in Nigeria for alleged financial fraud. And so I want to thank the FBI, nearly a dozen U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Secret Service, Postal Inspection Services, Homeland Security Investigations, the Treasury Department, our partners in Nigeria, Poland, Canada, Mauritius, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and our state and local law enforcement partners for all of their hard work. We will continue to go on offense against fraudsters so that the American people can have safety and peace of mind.”

“This operation demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises that target American citizens and their businesses,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

“We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners around the world to end these fraud schemes and protect the hard-earned assets of our citizens. The public we serve deserves nothing less.”

“The Secret Service remains committed to aggressively investigating and pursuing those responsible for cyber-enabled financial crimes,” said U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles. “Although the explosive expansion of the cyber domain has forced us to develop innovative ways of conducting these types of investigations, our proven model remains the same.”

“FinCEN has been a leader in the fight against BEC and other cyber-enabled crime,” said FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco. “Since 2014, working with our domestic and international partners, our Rapid Response Program has helped recover over $350 million stolen from innocent Americans. We must continue to be smarter, quicker, and better than the criminals that we face every day. Today’s action is a victory, but it will take vigilance, time, and resources to take this fight into the future. In defense of the victims of these crimes, we are ready for the challenge.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has a long history of successfully investigating complex fraud and corruption cases,” said Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell.

“We are proud to work alongside our fellow law enforcement partners in major efforts, such as Operation Wire Wire, to target those individuals who take advantage of the American public for illegal profits. Anyone who engages in deceptive practices like this should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable, regardless of where they are. Postal Inspectors will continue to work tirelessly to protect our customers from fraud.”

A number of cases involved international criminal organizations that defrauded small to large sized businesses, while others involved individual victims who transferred high dollar funds or sensitive records in the course of business.

The devastating effects these cases have on victims and victim companies, affect not only the individual business but also the global economy. Since the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) began keeping track of BEC and its variant, Email Account Compromise (EAC), as a complaint category, there has been a loss of over $3.7 billion reported to the IC3. BEC and EAC is a prevalent scam and the Justice Department along with our partners will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute the perpetrators, including money mules, regardless of where they are located.

Money mules may be witting or unwitting accomplices who receive ill-gotten funds from the victims and then transfer the funds as directed by the fraudsters. The money is wired or sent by check to the money mule who then deposits it in his or her own bank account. Usually the mules keep a fraction for “their trouble” and then wire the money as directed by the fraudster. The fraudsters enlist and manipulate the money mules through romance scams or “work-at-home” scams.

Starting in January 2018, this coordinated enforcement action targeted hundreds of BEC scammers. In addition, law enforcement agents executed over 51 domestic actions including search warrants, money mule warning letters, and asset seizure warrants totaling nearly $1 million. Local and state law enforcement partners on FBI task forces across the country, with the assistance of multiple District Attorney’s Offices, charged 15 alleged money mules for their role in defrauding victims. These money mules were employed by the fraudsters to launder their ill-gotten gains by draining the funds into other accounts that are difficult to trace.

Among those arrested on federal charges in BEC schemes include:

Following an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, 23 individuals were charged in the Southern District of Florida with laundering at least $10 million from proceeds of BEC scams, including eight people charged in an indictment unsealed last week in Miami. These eight defendants are alleged to have conspired to launder proceeds from numerous BEC scams, totaling at least approximately $5 million, including approximately $1.4 million from a victim corporation in Seattle, as well as various title companies and a law firm.

Following an investigation led by the FBI with the assistance of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Gloria Okolie and Paul Aisosa, both Nigerian nationals residing in Dallas, Texas, were charged in an indictment filed on June 6 in the Southern District of Georgia. According to the indictment, they are alleged to have victimized a real estate closing attorney by sending the lawyer a spoofing email posing as the seller and requesting that proceeds of a real estate sale in the amount of $246,000 be wired to Okolie’s account. They are charged with laundering approximately $665,000 in illicit funds. The attorney experienced $130,000 in losses after the bank was notified of the fraud and froze $116,000.

Adeyemi Odufuye aka “Micky,” “Micky Bricks,” “Yemi,” “GMB,” “Bawz” and “Jefe,” 32, and Stanley Hugochukwu Nwoke, aka Stanley Banks,” “Banks,” “Hugo Banks,” “Banky,” and “Jose Calderon,” 27, were charged in a seven-count indictment in the District of Connecticut in a BEC scheme involving an attempted loss to victims of approximately $2.6 million, including at least $440,000 in actual losses to one victim in Connecticut. A third co-conspirator Olumuyiwa Yahtrip Adejumo, aka “Ade,” “Slimwaco,” “Waco,” “Waco Jamon,” “Hade,” and “Hadey,” 32, of Toledo, Ohio, pleaded guilty on April 20 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Odufuye was extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States and on Jan. 3, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Nwoke was extradited to the United States from Mauritius on May 25, marking the first extradition in over 15 years from Mauritius. His case is pending.

Richard Emem Jackson, aka Auwire, 23, of Lagos, Nigeria, was charged in an indictment filed on May 17 in the District of Massachusetts with two counts of unlawful possession of a means of identification as part of a larger fraud scheme. According to the indictment, on two occasions in 2017, Jackson is alleged to have possessed the identifications of two victims with the intent to commit wire fraud conspiracy. In another case being prosecuted in the District of Massachusetts, a 25-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Florida man was indicted in federal court in Boston on June 6 on one count of money laundering conspiracy. According to the indictment, the individual was part of a conspiracy that engaged in wire fraud. It is alleged that in early 2018, the defendant’s co-conspirators gained access to email accounts belonging to a Massachusetts real estate attorney and sent emails to recipients in Massachusetts that “spoofed” the real estate attorney’s account in an attempt to cause the email recipient to transfer nearly $500,000, which was intended to be used for payment in connection with a real estate transaction, to a shell account belonging to a money mule recruited and controlled by the defendant.

The BEC scam is related to other forms of fraud such as:

“Romance scams,” which lull victims to believe that their online paramour needs funds for an international business transaction, a U.S. visit or some other purpose;
“Employment opportunities scams,” which recruits prospective employees for work-from-home employment opportunities where employees are required to provide their PII as new “hires” and then are significantly overpaid by check whereby the employees wire the overpayment to the employers’ bank;

“Fraudulent online vehicle sales scams,” which convinces intended buyers to purchase prepaid gift cards in the amount of the agreed upon sale price and are instructed to share the prepaid card codes with the “sellers” who ignore future communications and do not deliver the goods;

“Rental scams” occur when renters forward a check in excess of the agreed upon deposit for the rental property to the victims and request the remainder be returned via wire or check and back out of the rental agreements and ask for a refund; and
“Lottery scams,” which involves persons randomly contacting email addresses advising them they have been selected as the winner of an international lottery.

The cases were investigated by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and IRS Criminal Investigation. U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Districts of Central California, Connecticut, Eastern Virginia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Southern Florida, Southern Georgia, Southern Texas, Eastern Pennsylvania, Eastern Washington, Western Pennsylvania, Western Tennessee, Western Washington, Utah, and elsewhere have ongoing investigations some of which have resulted in arrests in Nigeria. The Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division provided assistance. District Attorney’s Offices of Caddo Parrish in Shreveport, Louisiana; Harris County, Texas and Los Angeles are handling state prosecutions. Additionally, private sector partners and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Canadian law enforcement including the Toronto Police Service, the Mauritian Attorney-General and the Commissioner of Police, Polish Police Central Bureau of Investigation, Indonesian National Police Cyber Crimes Unit, and the Royal Malaysia Police provided significant assistance.

This operation, which was funded and coordinated by the FBI, serves as a model for international cooperation against specific threats that endanger the financial well-being of each member country’s residents. Attorney General Sessions expressed gratitude for the outstanding efforts of the participating countries, including law enforcement actions that were coordinated and executed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria to curb business email compromise schemes that defraud businesses and individuals alike.

Victims are encouraged to file a complaint online with the IC3 at bec.ic3.gov. The IC3 staff reviews complaints, looking for patterns or other indicators of significant criminal activity, and refers investigative packages of complaints to the appropriate law enforcement authorities in a particular city or region. The FBI provides a variety of resources relating to BEC through the IC3, which can be reached at www.ic3.gov.

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UK To Reduce Voting Age To 16 In General Elections

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The British government announced on Thursday its intention to grant voting rights in general elections to 16- and 17-year-olds, marking a significant shift that would place the UK among countries with the lowest voting age globally.

This move stems from a commitment made by the ruling Labour Party before gaining power last year, and is part of a broader set of proposed reforms to the democratic process, which some have described as “in crisis” due to issues like low voter turnout.

The proposal is expected to spark debate, as opponents argue it could be politically motivated, with younger voters perceived as more inclined to favour the centre-left Labour party.

“I think it’s really important that 16- and 17-year-olds have the vote, because they are old enough to go out to work, they are old enough to pay taxes, so (they) pay in,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

“And I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go,” Starmer added.

To implement the change, the government will need to present legislation in parliament, where it holds a solid majority.

Globally, only a few countries allow citizens as young as 16 to vote in national elections, according to online sources.

These include Austria — the first EU member to reduce its voting age to 16 in 2007 — along with Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Cuba.

Labour ministers argue the reform is designed to “modernise our democracy” and increase participation, while also matching the voting age already used in elections for devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

Other planned reforms include the adoption of automated voter registration — a system already in place in Australia and Canada — and allowing UK-issued bank cards to be accepted as valid ID at polling stations.

These proposals come after the former Conservative government implemented laws requiring voters to present photo identification, which the Electoral Commission reported resulted in around 750,000 people being unable to vote in last year’s election.

Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of the Institute For Public Policy Research, described the proposals as “the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969”, when the voting age was reduced to 18.

He estimated that lowering the voting age and introducing automated registration could add as many as 9.5 million new voters.

“Our democracy is in crisis, and we risk reaching a tipping point where politics loses its legitimacy,” he said, expressing his support for the proposed changes.

 

Credit: AFP

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It’s Better For Anyone Holding PDP Down To Quit — Gov. Makinde On Atiku’s Exit

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Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, has said that the departure of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not impact the party’s position.

Abubakar left the PDP on July 14, stating that the party has deviated from its founding principles.

The party, which serves as the main opposition, has been experiencing internal conflict since the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking on Wednesday during the 10th coronation anniversary colloquium of Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade, the Deji of Akure, Makinde said Atiku’s departure will not weaken the PDP’s foundation or momentum.

The governor noted that the PDP would be in a stronger position if those hindering its progress step aside.

“Politics is a game of interest. I don’t think his exit will make any dent on PDP as a party,” Makinde said.

“PDP is an institution. We have freedom of entrance and exit. Anyone who holds PDP down, it is better for such an individual to quit.”

Speculation continues to grow that Makinde may enter the 2027 presidential race.

Abubakar, who is also seeking the presidency, has aligned himself with the opposition coalition to advance his ambition.

Addressing the move by some opposition politicians to adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 elections, Makinde said the coalition does not pose a threat to the PDP.

“I don’t see ADC as a threat to PDP. The goal is about the same. If you are not happy about the tempo and pace of governance, you are free to associate and see what can be done,” he said.

“But one thing we must all realise is that players will come and go, governors will come and go, presidents will come and go, but our state and country will remain.”

Makinde emphasized that traditional institutions are essential to good governance, conflict resolution, and community development.

“Too often, traditional institutions are misunderstood. Some imagine frail old men who have outlived their relevance,” he said.

“Others view them as mere instruments of political endorsement. That mindset must change.

“Traditional institutions are not relics of the past. They are enduring pillars of identity, legitimacy, and communal cohesion.

“Long before Nigeria’s formal administrative systems took root, traditional rulers dispensed justice, upheld values, coordinated local security, and kept communities united.

“Reforming legal frameworks to provide clarity on the roles, rights, and recognition of traditional councils and strengthening our security architecture to formalise community policing strategies rooted in traditional structures.”

Makinde said traditional institutions continue to be the custodians of the grassroots and warned that excluding them from nation-building would be a mistake.

“No wonder politicians continue to seek their blessings and validation,” he added.

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RCCG Pastor Absconds With $8000 Church Money, Abandons Wife, Marries New One

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A pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God has reportedly fled with “$8,000” in church funds, left his wife behind, and married another woman.

Pastor Folu Adeboye, wife of the General Overseer, Worldwide, of the RCCG, disclosed this while speaking at a men’s programme.

She explained in a video monitored by Church Times that the pastor was given the money for mission work in South Africa but instead abandoned his wife and relocated to the United States, where he married someone else.

Adeboye said the incident happened during a visit to Cape Town, South Africa, where she preached at the RCCG parish led by the pastor. The church service was held in a rented space at an eatery.

While she was ministering, a woman entered and began packing chairs, apparently indicating their allotted time was over. Surprised by this, Adeboye asked the pastor what it would cost to get a permanent site.

The pastor, who she said hails from Ekiti State, suggested that “$8,000” would allow them to begin the process by purchasing a used vehicle. He proposed giving the vehicle to a tourism agency to generate returns for acquiring a permanent church building.

Encouraged by the idea, Adeboye gave him the money.

However, the pastor had other plans. After receiving the funds, he travelled to the United States and left his wife behind in South Africa.

She noted that the abandoned woman is now in a distressed state, nearly “running mad.”

Church Times quoted Pastor Adeboye as saying: “RCCG men, what are we going to do? Are we going to continue with such a lying spirit, a deceitful spirit to the God of the kingdom?”

She stressed the need to return to core values of faith and truthfulness. Recalling past hardships, she said: “We must get to the point where we say wherever He leads, we follow. We were in this bush. For three years, there was no light. We went back to the days of the lantern and we were grinding with stone, whereas where we were coming from we had grinding machines, we had washing machines.”

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