A Nigerian man, Olamide Shanu, has been extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States to face trial over allegations of cyber fraud, sextortion, and money laundering that prosecutors say fetched him at least $2 million.
The US Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the 34-year-old from Lagos was arraigned before a US Magistrate Court on Wednesday. He is facing an eight-count charge that includes wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit extortion, and cyberstalking.
According to US prosecutors, Shanu and his conspirators pretended to be women on social media and lured men into sending sexual images of themselves. Once the photos were obtained, the group allegedly threatened to expose the images to the victims’ friends and families unless money was paid.
“According to the indictment, Shanu and his conspirators posed as females on social media and persuaded their victims, typically males, to send sexual images of themselves,” the DoJ stated.
“The indictment alleges that once the victims sent the explicit images, the conspirators threatened to send the explicit images to the victims’ friends and families unless the victim paid money. The indictment alleges that the conspirators engaged in this extortion of numerous victims across the United States, including a college student in Idaho.”
The indictment also revealed that Shanu and others laundered the proceeds of the crimes through cryptocurrency wallets, concealing the illegal funds.
“According to the indictment, Shanu fraudulently obtained at least $2,000,000 from the fraud schemes. If convicted of the charges, Shanu faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He also faces restitution for the losses incurred by the victims of the scheme,” the DoJ said.
The Department stressed that the charges remain allegations until proven in court. “An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the statement added.
This case comes weeks after another Nigerian, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu, was extradited from France to the US to face wire fraud and identity theft charges that prosecutors said caused losses of $819,000.
