Secret Service Tracks Nigerian 'yahoo Boy' Over Fraud Scheme
The Secret Service traced over 84.66478598 BTC (approximately $2.6 million) flowing through Shanu's Binance account
The Peoples Gazette reported that the US Secret Service has taken over the Binance account of Olamide Shanu, a 32-year-old man of Nigerian heritage, after linking his account to a $2.5 million wire fraud, money laundering, and extortion conspiracy.
The way the fraud scam was carried out and the accusations made against Mr. Shanu resembled the activities of Yahoo guys, a group of Nigerian online fraudsters.
“We, he tried to hurt me so I'm spreading his n*des rn to make him feel ashamed. All I want you guys to share this (sic) pictures all over the world till it goes viral and get to all his friends and family, that's all,” reads a screenshot Shanu sent to sextort a victim on April 3 while attaching the victim's name, age and address.
Mr. Shanu pretended to be a woman in order to get the explicit photos and videos of his victims after developing a false close relationship with them. He did this by scouting social media sites like Instagram and Snapchat for male youths and gullible adults to defraud.
He then threatened to send more explicit films and the desired amount to their pals if they didn't send the n+des. “Hey, family Here we have [(CC-3)] The indictment sheet against Mr. Shanu, submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho and stamped by clerk Stephen Kenyon on November 14, said, “n*ked pictures and d*ck he's [(CC-3's Username)] on Instagram.”
Investigations revealed that during a three-year period, the Binance account received around 84.66478598 BTC, or over $2.6 million, and $2.5 million was withdrawn in Bitcoin. When investigators took over the account, the current balance was zero bitcoin.
The victim, who requested to remain anonymous due to his juvenile status, went by V1, said that he accepted a friend request from @chloe.walterz on Snapchat at some point in May. The sextortion plot was initiated when he became close friends with his new buddy, whom he believed to be a white woman in her 20s, and they began exchanging films and pictures of themselves in their underwear. But the relationship quickly fell apart when @chloe.walterz threatened to reveal his naked photos to his pals on social media unless he paid $300. He claimed to have complied right away.
The remaining payments of $500 and $200 brought the total to $1000. The victim claims that after explaining his situation to his mother, she quickly alerted the police. After that, the adolescent blocked an enraged @chloe.walters, whose demands for cash had increased. He accepted a second friend request from Camille Smith96 on the same platform not long after blocking the con artist.
His new buddy Camille sent him a draft message of himself in his underwear, which he had previously shared with Chloe and was intended to be shared with his pals on Snapchat. He instructed him to save the send button. Nevertheless, V1 refused to give in to the con artists' demands and instantly blocked the new account, calling their bluff.
Investigators were able to connect the IP addresses of the two accounts to the same address in Lagos, Nigeria, by utilizing warrants to access the Snapchat logs of the accounts. This revealed that Shanu, whose digital footprints were discovered to have planned the fraud, was actually in charge of both accounts.
Subsequent inquiries disclosed that the initial proprietors of the two accounts, who were also juveniles, had them hacked in February to perpetrate fraud; additionally, the original phone numbers and usernames had been replaced with Nigerian ones. Victim 2, or V2, was an additional minor who was coerced into acting as a middleman in fraudulent transactions. After investigators served Binance with a warrant to access his wallet information, he received payments from other victims into his Venmo account, which he then passed into a cryptocurrency wallet linked to Shanu.
Conversely, on April 3, V2 accepted a friend request from a Camillesmith on Instagram. He then moved to Snapchat, where he often communicated with Chloe and shared obscene photos and videos. Nevertheless, he was quick to pick up on the name difference, especially because he was getting Apple iMessages from chloewalterz@icloud.com. He received threats of sextortion as soon as he asked his new buddy to provide her identification.
Shanu supported his claim by displaying to V2 a copy of a draft message that included his name, full address, location, and n E pictures, which would be broadcast with his connections on social media in the event that he disobeyed him. V2 was tricked into paying $300 each Friday by blackmail. Mr. Shanu, who was in charge of Chloe and Camille's accounts, indicated he could cease making payments once he reached $10,000 after receiving $1500.
In addition to being extorted, V2's Venmo account was used to steal money from additional victims of cyberstalking, which he subsequently transferred to Shanu's Binance accounts.
V2 received funds from VI. V2 funded cryto wallets 1HYabmNtJa8dBdrtfdHHGMLbCxtZhHS4TU ("1HYab") and bc1qhdsw4nvhmyvzpz9ys3pwnm515m2esn28gke6p2 ("bc1qh"), according to USSS agent Luke Lack who led investigations on the matter.
Investigators discovered that Shanu's Nigerian passport was connected to the account as its owner and that his email address was olamideshanu011@gmail.com after obtaining the Know Your Customer (KYC) details of the "1HYab" account through a court request.
Moreover, the IP address that was used to access the Binance account matched the usernames on Snapchat, chloe.walters and camille smith96, indicating Mr. Shanu's involvement in the fraud.
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