Abiola Kayode, 37, of Nigeria, was extradited by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to face charges for allegedly taking part in a business email compromise (BEC) operation that defrauded companies out of over $6 million between January 2015 and September 2016.
“Kayode’s co-conspirators posed as the chief executive officer, president, owner, or other executive of the targeted company,” the Department of Justice stated. “Using email accounts spoofed to make it appear as though they were from the company’s true business executive, Kayode’s co-conspirators directed business employees or recipients of the email to complete wire transfers.”
It is thought that Kayode gave the co-conspirators information about his bank account. The victims of online romance scams owned these bank accounts, and they were told to move the money to other bank accounts.
One of Kayode’s accomplices, Alex Ogunshakin, a 41-year-old Nigerian, was given a term of over four years in prison in late October 2024. Okechuckwu Valentine Osuji, a 39-year-old Nigerian national, was also sentenced to eight years in prison last week for running a BEC fraud in multiple nations, including the United States.
Spain Busts Vishing Ring
Alongside the law enforcement efforts, a coordinated operation headed by Peruvian and Spanish officials disrupted a phishing ring that deceived over 10,000 bank customers. In connection with the operation, 83 people—including the leader of the e-crime group—have been arrested, 35 of whom are in various locations throughout Spain and 48 of whom are in Peru.
The individuals have been connected to a Peruvian call center-based vishing scam, where thousands of calls were placed daily by scammers posing as bank employees who tricked users into providing verification codes by making them think their accounts had been blocked and that there were fraudulent charges.
Other gang members in Spain subsequently received the numbers and utilised them to make ATM cash withdrawals. An estimated €3,000,000 ($3.15 million) in illicit gains were made by the fraudulent enterprise.
According to Spain’s National Police Agency, the Policía Nacional, “Once they had the money in their possession, they appropriated a percentage that ranged between 20 and 30%, transferring the rest to the organisation in Peru through companies dedicated to sending cash to other countries.”