Ogun Governor’s Aide Arrested in US for Wire Fraud

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that a senior special assistant to the governor of Ogun State had been arrested in the US for wire fraud.

Abidemi Rufai was arrested on his way out of the United States at JFK Airport in New York, and he appeared in court on May 15. On May 19, he has a detention hearing set.

Rufai faces up to thirty years in jail if found guilty, because the crime included compensation paid in connection with a presidentially declared disaster or emergency.

Acting US Attorney Tessa M. Gorman accused Rufai of stealing over $350,000 in unemployment insurance from the Washington State Employment Security Department under the pseudonym Sandy Tang.

“Since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020, we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief,” said Gorman. “This is the first, but will not be the last, significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of ESD fraud.”

According to the Department of Justice, a Nigerian politician stole the identities of over 100 Washington citizens in order to file false claims with ESD for pandemic-related unemployment benefits.

Rufai repeated his bogus unemployment arguments in Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania, among other states.

“Rufai used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “By using this practice, Rufai made it appear that each claim was connected with a different email account.”

The proceeds of his false statements were wired to bank accounts operated by “money mules” or paid out to online payment accounts like “Green Dot” accounts.

Some of the proceeds were then mailed to Rufai’s relative in Jamaica, New York. Between March and August 2020, more than $288,000 was deposited into an American bank account operated by Rufai, according to law enforcement.

“Greed is a powerful motivator. Unfortunately, the greed alleged to this defendant affects all taxpayers,” said Donald Voiret, Special Agent in Charge FBI Seattle.

“The FBI and our partners will not stand idly by while individuals attempt to defraud programs meant to assist American workers and families suffering the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Since May 2020, US law enforcement agents have been monitoring the activities of Nigerian-based scammers who have been using the coronavirus pandemic to commit wire fraud.

The United States Secret Service said in an internal memo in May 2020 that a “well-orchestrated” COVID-19-related scam targeting several American states was traced back to Nigeria, according to The Guardian.

The memo was officially sent to Secret Service field offices across the US on Thursday, May 14, 2020, according to The Guardian.

According to the Secret Service, fraudsters are looking at using the COVID-19 pandemic to commit huge fraud against unemployment insurance programs.

According to the memo, “the US Secret Service has received reports of a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring leveraging the COVID-19 crisis to commit large-scale fraud against state unemployment insurance programs.”

On Tuesday, May 19, the cybersecurity company Agari announced that “some, if not all,” of those who perpetrated the fraud are members of the Nigerian fraud community Scattered Canary.

The fraud was discovered in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Florida, despite the fact that Washington State was the primary focus.