A Nigerian citizen extradited to the United States reportedly laundered millions of dollars that were stolen from compromise email fraud, the Justice Department said. According to prosecutors, he has flaunted his lavish lifestyle on social media.
Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, 37, also known as "Ray Hushpuppi", arrived in Chicago on Friday after being extradited from Dubai for conspiring to launder money. He and at least two co-conspirators allegedly carried out an operation that millions of dollars were cheated and subsequently laundered by a wide network of victims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
"BEC is one of the most lucrative forms of cybercrime," said Alex Guirakhoo, head of the digital shadows security research team. "Although Abbas' arrest is likely to affect operations in which he was directly involved, BEC generally shows no signs of slowing down as long as cybercriminals can benefit."
Hushpuppi's Alleged Operation
The prosecutors gave examples of the BEC systems. For example, they said the fraudsters stole more than $ 922,000 from a New York law firm in October 2019. After a BEC attack against a British Premier League football club, Abbas allegedly prepared to wash at least $ 100 million, according to prosecutors. But the fraud was never deducted.
"The affidavit also alleges that Abbas conspired to launder money stolen by a foreign financial institution in February 2019 during a $ 15 million cyberattack, which stole the money from bank accounts all over World was transferred, "said the Ministry of Justice. "Abbas allegedly provided two co-conspirators in Europe with bank accounts that Abbas had expected to receive £ 5 million ($ 5.6 million) each in fraudulently received funds."
Nothing to Hide
Abbas led an opulent lifestyle that included massive Dubai residences, luxury cars, and shopping trips to high-end shops in Paris - and he wasn't shy about showing off his wealth, prosecutors say. The Justice Department found that he had an Instagram account called Hushpuppi with 2.3 million followers and 500 posts, in which he often put his fortune on show.
"This Instagram account contained numerous publicly visible images of a man who appeared to be Abbas, based on comparisons with photos of Abbas in passports and other identification documents," said the prosecutor.
Investigators said they could tie Abbas to cellphones and email accounts that were used to conduct illegal transactions for allegedly using the alias Ray Hushpuppi for the accounts.
Police officers received the cell phones from two co-conspirators and found that they contained messages from different accounts using a variant of Abbas' nickname Hushpuppi, the Department of Justice said.
If convicted, Abbas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
BEC Scams a Growing Threat
In the U.S., the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 467,000 reports of Internet-related crimes in 2019, according to the report, an average of 1,300 complaints a day. According to a report released in February, the FBI received nearly 24,000 complaints about BEC fraud last year, with a total loss of $ 1.7 billion and an average loss of around $ 72,000 (see: FBI: BEC Losses totaled $ 1.7 billion in 2019).
However, federal law enforcement officers have brought cases against suspected BEC fraudsters in recent weeks.
For example, Obinwanne Okeke pleaded guilty in June to charges of an $ 11 million email compromise program directed against a British subsidiary of the U.S. heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar.
Also in June, six Nigerian nationals were charged with allegedly participating in email compromise campaigns and other programs from 2015 to 2017 targeted at U.S. companies.
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