The Airport Police Command in Lagos has arrested a 20-year-old man, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, over an alleged romance and celebrity scam said to have defrauded victims in the United States of more than ₦1 billion.
The police said Akpama was arrested on January 5, 2026, while attempting to leave the country through a Lagos airport.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Airport Police Command, ASP Mohammed Adeola, said the arrest followed months of intelligence-led monitoring by the Anti-Fraud Unit.
“The Nigeria Police Force, Airport Police Command, in its sustained efforts to combat transnational crimes and prevent the use of Nigerian airports as escape routes for criminal elements, has arrested a notorious celebrity scam and romance fraud suspect,” the statement read.
“The suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, was arrested on 5th January, 2026, by operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit of the Airport Police Command while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.”
According to the police, investigations showed that Akpama relocated from Calabar, Cross River State, to Lagos on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated several online fraud schemes.
One of the cases involved a 47-year-old woman in the United States who was reportedly deceived into sending one million US dollars, equivalent to over ₦1 billion.
“The suspect, through a celebrity scam modus operandi, deceived a 47-year-old female victim in the United States into transferring one million US dollars under the pretext of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage,” the police said.
The funds were allegedly requested through a cryptocurrency platform known as BullRun 2.0, previously called 4 Way Mirror Money.
The police also disclosed that another victim, a 70-year-old woman in the US, was defrauded of ₦25,709,400, about $18,000.
“Further investigations revealed that the suspect also defrauded another 70-year-old female victim in the United States of a total sum of ₦25,709,400, equivalent to $18,000,” the statement added.
The fraud was said to involve the purchase of gift cards, expensive mobile phones and computer equipment, which were shipped to Nigeria on the suspect’s instructions.
Items recovered from Akpama include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL phones and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, with a total estimated value of ₦8,141,367.
The police said the suspect allegedly posed as a 60-year-old orthopaedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria to convince his victims.
“The suspect reportedly posed as a 60-year-old orthopaedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria to convince victims that the devices were needed for secure communications,” the statement said.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, said the command would continue to rely on intelligence to fight crime.
“The Command will continue to deploy intelligence-driven operations to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal networks operating within and around Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem,” she said.
The police added that the case has been handed over to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit for further investigation, and the suspect will be charged to court after the investigation is concluded.
