What happens when an Instagram influencer based in Dubai and an alleged ringleader of a transnational financial crime ring walk into a bar? It is likely to be one person having a drink on their lonesome if a recent affidavit lodged in courts in the United States containing allegations of millions of dollars of illegal transfers between bank accounts has it right.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations detailed allegations against Nigerian national Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, who is also known by the Instagram handle Hushpuppi and the nickname Hush, relating to a business e-mail compromise scam worth almost US$923,000, a money laundering scheme involving US$14.7 million and plans to execute other illegal transfers.
Abbas is one of many Nigerian nationals the FBI has tracked in recent years because of the impact of sophisticated computer crime on large scale corporations that involves attempts to divert funds into and out of banks accounts within tight timeframes so the hi-tech thieves make their escape with funds before the victims are aware it has even occurred.
Business e-mail compromise schemes are particularly insidious because a hacker gains access to a computer system and then seeks out the identities of senior managers in order to ‘spoof’ e-mail addresses in an attempt to get staff to execute transactions they may believe have been requested or authorised by senior management.
Other scams that transnational financial crime outfits conduct on a regular basis include Nigerian letters scams, romance scams and phishing operations with the latter being designed to get the personal financial details of people for the purposes of fleecing their banks accounts.Scams such as the business e-mail compromise scam for which Abbas has been pursued by the FBI have cost Australian companies $132 million during the 2019 calendar year, according to the most recent data released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
FBI special agent Andrew Innocenti, an expert in dealing with cyber-enabled fraud and business e-mail compromise scams, alleges in his affidavit that Abbas, who was brought to the United States to face court earlier this month, that the man that goes by the Instagram moniker Hushpuppi may be living it up on the proceeds of sophisticated financial crime.
According to Innocenti, Abbas has social media accounts that “frequently show him in designer clothes, wearing expensive watches, and posing in or with luxury cars and charter jets”.
“The FBI’s investigation has revealed that ABBAS finances this opulent lifestyle through crime, and that he is one of the leaders of a transnational network that facilitates computer intrusions, fraudulent schemes,” Innocenti’s affidavit alleges. “and money laundering, targeting victims around the world in schemes designed to steal hundreds of millions of dollars. ABBAS participated in these fraudulent schemes and money laundering in coordination with multiple coconspirators, including the persons referred to herein as Coconspirator 1 and Coconspirator 2.”
How did the FBI seek to establish Abbas’ identity in the case that is currently before the courts in the United States?
Abbas was identified because Coconspirator 1 communicated with somebody in the United Arab Emirates frequently about what to