FBI Indicts Two Nigerians For Attempting To Steal $25m From US Institutions

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, has indicted two Nigerians Efeturi Ariawhorai(35) and Ikenna Nwajiaku(41) for attempting to steal $25 million from about twenty public and private entities around the United States, including universities.

This was disclosed in a statement released by US Department of Justice, District of Oregon.

The US authorities stated that the duo was charged on an 11-count indictment bordering on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The prosecution stated that while they attempted to defraud 20 victim organizations out of approximately $25.2 million, 15 of the victims lost a combined $6.2 million as a result of the scheme.

The statement partly reads,” According to the indictment, beginning in June 2019 and continuing until January 2021, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku conspired with one another and others known and unknown to defraud various public and private entities located throughout the U.S., including numerous school districts, universities, colleges, and hospitals.

“As part of their scheme, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku would contact organizations by email; impersonate employees of the targeted organization or professionals from other entities doing business with the target organization, such as construction companies; and convince the organizations to send payments to bank accounts controlled by third parties acting on Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku’s behalf.

“To conceal their fraudulent activity, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku used false names and various identity-concealing technologies including virtual private networks, compromised servers, and leased infrastructure. Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku would also register email addresses and internet domain names with slight variations on the names of real companies to trick victim organizations.”

Ariawhorai is said to be recently residing in the United Arab Emirates, while Nwajiaku, is believed to be residing in or near Lagos, Nigeria,

The prosecution said that on November 25, 2021, Ariawhorai was arrested in Italy by Italian authorities and the United States made a formal request for his extradition but Ariawhorai fled house arrest.

“Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku are both fugitives,” the US Justice Department stated.

Speaking on the development, the Assistant United States Attorney Quinn Harrington, said justice must be served on the suspects.

“Federal law enforcement is determined to use every tool and capability it has to pursue cyber criminals and retrieve money mistakenly sent to unknown bank accounts. We applaud the local victim in this case for quickly reporting the crime and giving authorities the best possible chance at retrieving their money.

“Unfortunately, many of these situations go a different and very costly way. When in doubt, we encourage anyone who thinks they are the victim of a cyber crime to report immediately to the FBI,” Harrington said in a statement published on Monday.