Profile in hand, he would run a credit check on victims through annualcreditreport.com, a website set up by the big three credit-reporting agencies. Onwuhara had discovered a flaw in the Experian portion of the site, which screened users with a personalized security question and several multiple-choice answers. Users had to click on the correct answer to proceed. But when Onwuhara refreshed his browser, he found that the site replaced certain answers with new ones. Clearly, these were red herrings. Onwuhara knew the correct answer to the security question would appear persistently on screen as he refreshed.

He knew the questions he'd get. Usually he had the answers, along with account numbers, balances, and passwords. Altering his gravelly voice like a professional actor, he could switch ethnicity, age, and accent on a whim. A customer service rep was easy prey.

Ezenwa ("E" Onyedebelu, a promising young student from Dallas whom Onwuhara had tapped as his protégé, laundered money. Henry Obilo, a hulking pre-med student who doubled as Onwuhara's bodyguard, specialized in Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) information.

It was around this time that Onwuhara grew suspicious that law enforcement might be on to him. FBI agents had placed both a pen register and a trap-and-trace device on his phone, which let them record all outgoing and incoming numbers. Onwuhara somehow found out. When he called Cingular/AT&T (T, Fortune 500), his cellphone carrier, the company "accidentally" revealed the name and number of the FBI technician tracking him, according to an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. But people who know Onwuhara don't think it was an accident.

"He has a way of getting people to tell him everything," Gipson says.

Nail consulted Etienne and the assistant U.S. attorney on the case. They decided to make the arrest. The agents on the ground followed the speeding cars to the Hard Rock Casino in Fort Lauderdale. The Acura and the BMW screeched to a halt at the curb in front of the casino. The drivers rushed inside, where local police detained them. The man from the BMW wasn't Onwuhara but rather his protégé, Ezenwa Onyedebelu. In the seconds before the FBI arrived with handcuffs to make the arrest, Matthews whipped out her cellphone and fired off a text: "Leave now. They got us."

Somewhere inside the Hard Rock, maybe at one of his beloved craps tables, one of the greatest cyberscammers in history looked up from his phone, calmly headed for a back door, and hailed a cab. Then he melted into the night. He hasn't been seen since.

fstranger1:

What?

Are you now the new Ezeuche?

Kalu Akanu:

This man is very smart. He is a criminal mastermind I must say. The guy pulled in about $100 million. That is a lot of money for an ordinary scammer.

Ileke-IdI:

Nigerians making wave in American. . . . They need to make another "Coming to America" movie  

Part of this fraudsters are the same ones on their laptop talking about getting rich. "My father has a bigger house than your own", ring a bell?

ekt_bear:

Lol, yeah. For all we know, this Tobechi guy is hiding somewhere in Abia from the authorities. Will resurface with a new identity and run for governor  

With that said, I'm impressed. Read through the article. . . some of the things he pulled off are very hard to do. His mastery of different accents, speech patterns, his knowledge of the inner workings of banks, the techniques he used to launder money, how he hid how much business he was doing even from his associates, how he found out the FBI was after him through AT&T!

Dude is extremely talented (though I'm not trying to justify what he did.)

Kalu Akanu:

Maybe you should take the time to read the article before you comment.

Even the oyibos are impressed with his abilities. Not to say that I am glorifying his actions, but this man is simply brilliant. A true pro. And he definitely deserves a movie. The fact that he hasn't been caught is simply amazing as well.

Kalu Akanu:

This man probably inspired a lot of yahoo-yahoo boys. No one can compete with him in his sheer genius. The way he laundered his money. And how he was able to work under the radar, was truly something to behold.

That article reminds me of a movie script.

Kalu Akanu:

That article reminds me of a movie script.

Dis Guy:

And a chieftaincy title- Young Eze Ego- YEE to go with it

fstranger1:

AGain tribal chest beating

STFU

yahoo yahoo started before him

He has been profiled on AMW so many times and it is well documented that he learnt his trade from his father who in turn learnt it from Yoruba boys in Lagos

His own trade in stock/Modus operandi is different, I agree. But he learnt the basic from the masters, the Yoruba

Kalu Akanu:



Why would anyone be proud of this? I am talking about the man, not his ethnicity. Did you hear me mention where he is from? His family hails from my home state, but you have yet to hear me say anything of that sort.

Yes yahoo yahoo started before him, but this man took it to another level.

$100 million. . . That is a substantial sum to make from just scamming.

fstranger1:

He is going to be caught and he is gonna have to spend time in jail for a 100 million dolls crime

ekt_bear:

if he has managed to escape to Nigeria, he will never be caught. He'll just invent a new identity. Dude is obviously not a mumu.

ekt_bear:

if he has managed to escape to Nigeria, he will never be caught. He'll just invent a new identity. Dude is obviously not a mumu.

ekt_bear:

if he has managed to escape to Nigeria, he will never be caught. He'll just invent a new identity. Dude is obviously not a mumu.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has demanded[b] the extradition of a 26-year old Nigerian, Olaniyi Makinde, in connection with e-mail scams currently valued at about USD800,000.[/b]

A source at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the FBI is particularly interested in Mr. Makinde, who is currently standing trial in Ondo State, because of the peculiarity of the scam method which involved remotely breaking into the accounts system of an online payroll company in California, Intuit Inc.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the EFCC, Femi Babafemi, declined to speak in details about the case but our source also said that the EFCC and the FBI have been working together on this case since last year adding that while the FBI would like to try Mr. Makinde in the US, the EFCC want him tried in Nigeria.

Amongs other charges in the 23-count charge brought against the 26-year old, the EFCC said that Mr. Makinde managed to manipulate the American online payroll system to deposit cash in his Intercontinental and Ecobank accounts in Nigeria.

“He installed malicious codes in several victims’ personal computers with which he fraudulently stole their bank information to steal $600, 000,” an official document obtained by NEXT said.

“Because of that boy, three FBI agents came to Nigeria in October. They wanted to see the person that could carry out this deal offshore,” our source at the EFCC said.

ekt_bear:

Makinde probably doesn't have 10 or 20 mil in his account.

That is enough money to:

1) Get plastic surgery
2) Hire guards armed to the teeth
3) Bribe someone in the naija gov't to give you forewarning if the US gov't sends agents after you.
4) Have any strange people who come looking for you in Abia State (or wherever he is hiding) mysteriously captured and killed by kidnappers.

fstranger1:

Are you serious or just acting as the devil's advocate?

ekt_bear:

How much can it cost? If you pay some high-up Nigerian policeman $100k/year to let you know what is going on, will he deny you? Or is the US somehow going to pull this off w/o the help of the Nigerian gov't at all? I don't see how the US can send agents after him without the information leaking out somehow.