EFCC officials
It has been revealed that some yahoo boys on FBI wanted list hiding in Nigeria have fled to other African countries.
Days after the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, vowed to
fish out Nigerians indicted in the recent United States wire scam,
Saturday Sun has learnt that most of the young men with questionable
source of living are currently on the run. While many have gone
underground, those with the means have fled to some West African nations
and even beyond the sub-region to evade arrest.
On August 22 , a 252-count federal grand jury indictment charged 77
Nigerians for alleged involvement in a massive conspiracy to steal
millions of dollars through a variety of fraud schemes and launder same
through a Los Angeles-based money laundering network uncovered by the
FBI.
The indictment alleges that the defendants and others used various
online fraud schemes – including business email compromise (BEC) frauds,
romance scams, and schemes targeting the elderly – to defraud victims
out of millions of dollars.
While two defendants were already in federal custody on other
charges, a few others were arrested last week, with the remaining
suspects believed to be abroad, most of them located in Nigeria. The
Nigerian government has however promised to assist FBI in extraditing
those indicted.
Saturday Sun gathered that several big-time ‘Yahoo boys’ operating
in Nigeria have since fled the country for fear that the FBI-backed EFCC
investigation might affect them. They were said to have moved to
neighbouring West African countries, especially Ghana and Gambia. Others
are in South Africa while those who still have clean records have
chosen to stay in Dubai till further notice.
Celebrity nightclubs worst hit
Worst hit by the decision of the ‘Yahoo boys’ to go underground are
some of the celebrity night clubs in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri in Imo
State which are usually filled with young men ready to spend millions in
a night. These are safe havens for some of these fraudsters who are
willing to spend more than a million naira on a bottle of wine.
Lamenting the low patronage, an attendant in a top nightclub in
Victoria Island who spoke with Saturday Sun lamented that sales has
fallen since the FBI-EFCC manhunt began last week. “Before the news
broke, we used to make at least N5million every Friday night. Last
Friday was the worst since this club was established. We could barely
make up to N500, 000. There is panic everywhere; we need these Yahoo
boys who spend money carelessly. The same thing happened to our club in
Owerri, everyone has gone into hiding. It’s even worse over there
because majority of our customers are visitors who stormed Owerri for
the weekend.”
Why we have gone underground
One of the suspected fraudsters popularly known as Big Daddy who
insists that he has since retired told Saturday Sun that he decided to
run to Dubai in case someone mistakenly mentioned his name. “It’s
Obiwanne Okeke’s fault that things went bad for everybody. As soon as
they caught him, he started running his mouth and he overdid it. What
others were doing is to allow them to investigate your matter and then
the rest will help you from outside. They would have contributed money
and hire the best lawyer that will help free him or at worst reduce his
sentence. So many of us now stuck in Nigeria have been arrested before
and endured it till we were deported. Your resources will be protected.
The truth is that America cannot jail you if they do not have concrete
evidence against you and most importantly the quality of the lawyer that
is helping out is very important. With the current situation that guys
are in over there, no one is willing to help.”
On why he fled the country, Big Daddy said, “I was not involved in
any of the issues they raised but I am an Imo boy and I know so many of
them. We have done deals in the past and anything can happen. These boys
out of desperation can mention anyone’s name. It’s better to stay away
and monitor things from afar. I have a clean record that is why I
decided to go to Dubai.”
An ex-convict, Okechukwu Madu who was recently deported to Nigeria
after serving five years jail term in UK over internet fraud said that
EFCC will take advantage of the FBI alert to arrest small-time players.
“In Nigeria, if you know your game, EFCC will not arrest you. We have
gotten information on the people that they are looking for and most of
them are out already. If you hear that they caught anyone, it must be
these small-time players. The big boys are the investors and most of
them are spread across African countries; all they need is a computer
and link to their accomplices.
“I am not afraid because I have served my term in UK before
they deported me. Some of us were lucky that we invested in the country,
which is why despite all the money that they took from us, we can still
survive in this country. In fact, Nigerian government should be happy
that we bring this money back to Nigeria, unlike some of them who prefer
to buy houses and deposit our money in foreign countries. This matter
will surely end one day, the secret is to try not to be caught.”
Another suspected fraudster based in Kenya, Cosmos Gee lamented
that since the news broke last week, some of his friends have been
unreachable. “My brother who stays in Germany told me that they are
actually hiding, the town is hot for them. There is also panic in other
African countries like Kenya, this is because some of these Nigerian men
travelled with Kenyan passport. Kenyan government is not strict on
Nigerians who come over there and seek to become citizens of the
country.”
We’re on their trail – EFCC
Reacting to the development, a top official of EFCC said,
“We’re on their trail. We’ve increased surveillance at all the country’s
borders and have enlisted Interpol’s service. We will get these
fraudsters and Yahoo boys because we have deployed different
technologies. Abuja and Lagos are under heavy surveillance.
“We’re also in the South South because we believe anywhere you
have higher institutions is a natural hub for Yahoo business. We’ve
spread dragnets everywhere. The entire country is under surveillance.
Raids are coming, but they would be covert. If they like, they should
run to anywhere in the world, in due course, we will get them.”
Also speaking, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said, “the
Commission is not aware of any escape of suspected fraudsters from the
country. The EFCC more than ever before is resolute in its determination
to wipe out all vestiges of scam, be they advance fee fraud or cyber
crime. The Commission has the capacity to track and smoke out any
Internet fraudster within Nigeria’s borders. We also have partnerships
with international law enforcement organisations including the Interpol.
Escape from Nigeria is no guarantee of freedom from justice.”
A suspected internet fraudster wanted by the United States Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was recently arrested by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and paraded in Ilorin, the Kwara
State capital.
Sharu Isyaku, EFCC zonal head in Kwara, told reporters “the 36 years old suspect had benefitted about N60 million from the loot via Western Union transfer.”
He said: “Just last three weeks, the US authority had written
to us for assistance in tracking and possible arrest and prosecution of
two most wanted FBI suspects in Nigeria. The commission accedes to their
request. The commission has been supportive of the activities of the
FBI and every other foreign counterpart whose responsibility is similar
or analogous to ours. ”
He further revealed that the commission had traced four properties
linked to some cybercrime suspects in choice areas to Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti
State.
The properties include a supermarket and plaza put in the region of between N800 million to one billion Naira. “Within
seven months of our operation, the Ilorin zonal office has
independently arrested over 58 suspected internet fraudsters, secured
conviction of 25 and got forfeiture of their exotic cars and money
running into millions of Naira to the Federal Government,” he said.
Culled from DailySun
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