FBI Collaborates With EFCC To Apprehend Two Nigerians Linked To $13 Million Fraud Against American Medical Providers

FBI Collaborates With EFCC To Apprehend Two Nigerians Linked To $13 Million Fraud Against American Medical Providers Babatunde Shodiya (43) and Yinka Jamiu (31) have been indicted by the United States for their alleged participation in a fraudulent business email scheme that targeted healthcare companies in Minnesota, resulting in a loss of $13 million.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has requested assistance from Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to locate and apprehend the two Nigerians, who are wanted for allegedly using a counterfeit website to defraud American healthcare providers, according to the People’s Gazette.

The indictment, issued by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota on September 25, charges Shodiya and Jamiu with involvement in a scheme that defrauded multiple healthcare providers between October 2020 and 2024. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger stated that the duo manipulated unsuspecting employees of various Minnesota-based healthcare firms, convincing them to redirect payments to fraudulent accounts.

“As part of the scheme, Babatunde and Jamiu created a fake ‘spoofed’ internet domain that appeared to be controlled by Fairview Health,” Luger explained. “Unbeknownst to the vendor companies, these new accounts were actually managed by Babatunde, Jamiu, and their co-conspirators, not Fairview Health.”

In total, they are accused of fraudulently directing over $13 million in payments intended for Fairview Health from Minnesota-based healthcare companies to accounts they controlled.

U.S. authorities have confirmed that Shodiya and Jamiu are Nigerian citizens residing in Nigeria. Sources familiar with the situation indicated that American officials have expressed their concerns to Nigeria’s EFCC.

“The U.S. officials reached out to us, informing us that the suspects are believed to be hiding in Nigeria,” an EFCC officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, said. “We have a duty to honor this request in line with our long-standing collaboration with the U.S. in addressing cross-border crimes.”

Shodiya and Jamiu allegedly exploited Optum Pay, a widely used payment system among health service providers in Minnesota, by setting up a counterfeit domain to manipulate payment transfers. They created a fake website, fairviewhospitals.org, to impersonate key officials within the hospital network, including the CEO, executive vice president, and a business analyst, by establishing fraudulent email accounts.

Using these fake addresses, they sent phishing emails to Fairview Health employees, tricking them into revealing their login credentials. In addition to wire fraud charges, Shodiya faces an aggravated identity theft charge for impersonating Fairview’s executives.

For more information on this article and other related posts from Bushradiogist, please join our WhatsApp channel by clicking this link https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaUumOODTkK7AZL1Fw3o. For advertisement inquiries only, kindly send a message to 090 1907 0863 on WhatsApp.