Ehiremen Aigbokhan, ‘Nigerian scammer’ underneath FBI probe over ₦460m fraud

Ehiremen Aigbokhan, a Nigerian nationwide is presently on the radar of america Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over an alleged N460 million fraud.

The FBI has filed a civil forfeiture grievance towards the Nigerian who’s accused of stealing over ₦460 million in cryptocurrency meant for the January 2025 inauguration of President Donald Trump.

In accordance with court docket filings, Aigbokhan allegedly carried out a classy Enterprise E mail Compromise (BEC) rip-off from Lagos, Nigeria, by establishing spoofed e-mail addresses that intently mimicked these of members of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.

Investigators revealed that the scammers impersonated committee co-chair Steve Witkoff by utilizing a lookalike e-mail handle that swapped a lowercase “L” for an uppercase “I,” deceiving a donor into transferring 250,300 USDT.ETH, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. greenback, on December 26, 2024.

Authorities reported that the funds, price over ₦400 million on the time, have been quickly dispersed into a number of crypto wallets.

Nevertheless, by December 31, the FBI, in collaboration with cryptocurrency agency Tether, froze the suspect wallets after recognizing suspicious transactions.

Additional forensic investigation linked the fraudulent exercise to Lagos, with entry data connecting the pockets to a Binance account registered by Ehiremen Aigbokhan in October 2024. Officers stated the account had no prior exercise earlier than receiving the stolen property.

In complete, the FBI recovered 20,017 USDT.ETH from Aigbokhan’s pockets and a further 20,336 USDT.ETH from a related pockets, valued collectively at greater than ₦60 million.

The U.S. Division of Justice is now searching for a court docket order to completely forfeit the seized digital property.

Assistant U.S. Legal professional Rick Blaylock Jr., who’s main the prosecution, confirmed that Aigbokhan additionally faces extra prices associated to cash laundering and wire fraud.

Whereas the FBI has but to substantiate whether or not extradition proceedings are underway, it described the case as one of the vital important cybercrime operations linked to a U.S. presidential occasion.

The incident has reignited considerations over cybersecurity in political fundraising, highlighting the rising menace from worldwide cybercriminal networks.

Officers are urging donors and organizations to scrutinize e-mail communications and double-check cost particulars earlier than authorizing giant transactions.