Nigerian Man Fisayo Abiodun Oluwafemi Pleads Guilty To 11 Counts Of Email Scam Running Into Millions Of Dollars...

A Nigerian, Fisayo Abiodun Oluwafemi, has been charged with $1.4m fraud in Australia. He stands accused of dealing with more than $1.4 million in proceeds of crime from email scams targeting several businesses.

The Nigerian also helped to disperse money from the scams while he lived at Villawood detention centre in Sydney’s west.

Oluwafemi, 44, pleaded guilty on Thursday to 11 charges including nine counts of knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime. This was after he was arrested by the NSW Police Cybercrime squad on September 2018.

Police had launched Strike Force Woolana to investigate Oluwafemi and six others over a series of “business email compromise” scams. The scams involved somehow gaining access to the email account of a legitimate business.

The email infiltrator would then find invoices. Thereafter, he would use the information in them to request business payments into a new bank account.

Money deposited in that account was then withdrawn or transferred overseas.

Oluwafemi dealt with proceeds of crime after a series of individuals and businesses were targeted. This includes a company which owns land leased to a company named ‘7-Eleven‘ in the Melbourne suburb of Hallam.

An unknown person, posing as an employee of the landowner, emailed 7-Eleven on August 1, 2018, asking for the lease to be paid into a different account.

7-Eleven paid $464,977.06 the same day. Of that, $115,000 was transferred to another account. This was changed to US dollars and ultimately moved to Nigeria.

A Queensland law firm, a computer software company, and a father and son were among others to fall prey to the scam.

According to court documents, Oluwafemi and others acted on the instruction of other people based overseas when they coordinated how to distribute the money from the email scams.

Before he was detained at Villawood, Oluwafemi accompanied his de facto partner to a car dealership at Artarmon on March 8, 2017, where she bought a $58,000 Range Rover Evoque with the proceeds from a fraudulent bank account.

From detention, Oluwafemi then used three mobile phones to open 19 bank accounts using seven stolen identities.

He communicated with others on WhatsApp to tell them when money had been transferred into the accounts. Subsequently, the money was then withdrawn.

According to agreed facts, police have been able to recover $915,989.60 from the $1,425,653.76 proceeds of crime in which Oluwafemi dealt.

When Oluwafemi is sentenced, a further five charges will be taken into account. This includes three counts of dealing with identification information with the intent to commit an indictable offence, and one count of participating in a criminal group.

The Nigerian will face the District Court in Sydney on August 30.

from 1stnews.com