The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released names of about 80 Nigerians suspected to have been involved in well coordinated wire, fraud and money laundering in the United States.
FBI also narrated the strategies adopted by the alleged fraudsters leading to the swindling of innocent citizens. Valentine Iro, 31, and Chukwudi Christogunus Igbokwe, 38, are named as lead suspects in the case.
The United States government released full details and identities of the 80 suspected fraudsters, with most being Nigerians, arrested in the country
Further investigations revealed that members of the conspiracy sometimes wired funds to other bank accounts under their control or withdrew same as cash or negotiable instruments such as cashier’s checks. “The suspects often used illicit money exchangers to move funds overseas, generally avoiding transferring the funds directly through banking institutions, the indictment alleges.
To do this, Iro and Igbokwe coordinated the transfer of a victim’s funds from a fraudulent bank account they controlled to US bank accounts belonging to illicit money exchangers. “Those money exchangers, in turn, used a Nigerian banking application to transfer other funds in naira (₦), the currency of Nigeria, from Nigerian bank accounts they controlled to the Nigerian bank accounts specified by Iro and Igbokwe,” the statement said. The authorities said this strategy was used to transfer millions of dollars to Nigerian co-conspirators without directly transferring funds overseas. Below are the names of the Nigerian suspects indicted in the alleged fraud case:
