The six Nigerians named in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suspected criminals list for over $6 million losses in cybercrime are just part of the 79 offenders in the full list.
A further read through on FBI official website revealed that another 73 offenders within the region of Europe, Asia and Middle East also committed the same crime but were arrayed rearward.
This has steered much anger and criticism as many Nigerians believe the portrait display is deliberate and citing the six Nigerians alone in the announcement is to further tarnish the country’s image which has been in a backlash since the arrest of Nigerian hacker, Hushpuppi and and his accomplice.
The FBI made public a list of six Nigerians; Abiola Ayorinde Kayode, Alex Afolabi Ogunshakin, Felix Osilama Okpoh, Michael Olorunyomi, Nnamdi Orson Benson and Richard Izuchukwu Uzuh among others as wanted fugitives on it search list.
“Help the #FBI find six Nigerian nationals wanted for their involvement in business email compromise (BEC) schemes resulting in over $6 million in losses.”
They are believed to have sent spoofed emails to thousands of businesses in the United States requesting fraudulent wire transfers while one of them, Uzuh additionally worked with money launderers, romance scammers, and others involved in BEC schemes to launder the proceeds of their crimes through a complex network of witting and unwitting people in the United States and abroad.
The announcement which was declared on FBI’s verified twitter handle with a 100,000 less of three million followers also had the passport of the six Nigerians and four other accomplice portrayed as front page of the cyber’s most wanted list.
It is not farfetched that a very sensitive topic in trend has experienced a huge surge and gained popularity after the released a list of suspected criminals which had six Nigerian citizen on it.
