Nigerian Billionaire Influencer Arrested With 431 Million Scammer Fraud
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38-year-old Raymond Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, by his Instagram handle, has been arrested for funding his extravagant lifestyle through hacking scams, mainly targeted all through Europe, Nigeria, and the United States. The most common scamming tactics that he used were:
- Business email phishing scams
- Money Laundering
- Computer hacking (CNN,2020)
Abbas would in no way shy away from flaunting his enormous wealth. He would often post photos showing his 2.5 million Instagram followers his many designer clothes, luxury jets, and fancy cars. For all of this, he accredited to as being a successful real estate investor (Salo 2020). His Instagram latest post reading:
“May success and prosperity not be a “once upon a time” story in your life… ?. Thank you lord for the many blessings in my life ?? continue to shame those waiting for me to be shamed”
Investigators ironically connected Abbas’ crimes to his social media accounts. On his Instagram, Abbas had a phone number, and email saved that connected authorities to the trace of large cash amounts being transferred (CNN 2020).
Snapchat, Apple ID, and birthday celebration posts also gave him away, further confirming his identity and connections to other suspects.
According to a source, Abbas had been sending a partner in crime his Romanian bank account information, which was explicitly for his vast sums of cash, while he used his Dubai bank account for deposits he would receive from his hacking scams in the United States (CNN 2020).
In June, Abbas was arrested in his apartment in Dubai by the United Arab Emirates, later to be given over to the FBI flying to Chicago on July 2. He is to be transferred and then tried in Lost Angeles to face his alleged cyber-crimes (CNN, 2020).
Unfortunately, Raymond Abbas is only one of the many hackers that make a living by preying after the public through their scams.
The first step to take so you won’t be the victim is to educate yourselves and others around you on proper internet etiquette!
IT companies exist to create proper security and precautions for their businesses to follow to prevent these scams. Contact a local IT company in your area to make sure that your cybersecurity solutions are up to date, and you have the right procedures in place in case there was an attack on your business!
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Sources:
CNN, J. (2020, July 12). He Flaunted private jets and luxury cars on Instagram. Fed used his post to link him to alleged cyber crimes. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from, https://abc17news.com/news/national-world/2020/07/12/he-flaunted-private-jets-and-luxury-cars-on-instagram-feds-used-his-posts-to-link-him-to-alleged-cyber-crimes/
Salo, J. (2020, June 29). Nigerian Instagram star known as Hushpuppi busted in $431M cyber scam. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from , https://nypost.com/2020/06/29/nigerian-scammer-known-as-hushpuppi-busted-in-431m-scam/