Ogoshi Brothers: How Lagos Yahoo Boys disgrace Nigeria
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The sentencing of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi to 17 and half years in the United States’ federal prison underscores how scam syndicates operating from Lagos hold up Nigeria’s flag to disrepute by posing growing menace to internet users across the globe.
A federal judge sentenced Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and Samson Ogoshi, 21, after hearing emotional testimony from the parents and stepmother of Jordan DeMay, who was 17 when he killed himself at his family’s home in Marquette, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Jordan DeMay, blackmailed into committing suicide by Ogoshi brothers
The two brothers were extradited to face the law in the United States following cooperation between the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Police Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
The case involved a financial extortion scheme which targeted the naïve teen in a scheme which, according to investigators, exploited over other 100 victims by coercing them into sending explicit images and then blackmailing them for money.
In the case of DeMay, it was alleged that the teen failed to convince the Nigerian blackmailers that he exhausted all the money on him ad was contemplating suicide for disappointing his parents.
After sending all he had in endless extortion to the Nigerian brothers and still faced continued threats of disgrace, Jordan DeMay reportedly took his own life. And despite learning that young DeMay committed suicide the Ogoshi brothers allegedly continued their schemes on other scam targets.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker, said the case called for long sentences, noting that the siblings had shown a “callous disregard for life” by continuing their sextortion scams even after learning that DeMay had killed himself.
The two brothers form part of a troubling trend involving Nigerian criminal gangs that target vulnerable individuals who connect to the world through the internet.
The case in which two young Nigerian brothers relentlessly blackmailed and goaded an American student into regular financial appeasement until he committed suicide also amplifies the complex, desperate and ruthless nature of the modes deployed by the scam artists in draining the fortunes of their victims.
Deviating from the regular scam mail, “stranded prince” and “next of kin” story plots for which security operatives have labeled the yahoo boys in the past, the Ogoshi brothers put their bait in a new chapter of date scam with which they ensnared 17 year old Jordan DeMay to release his nude photograph to a fake online female whose dating account was set up by the Ogoshi brothers as a decoy to target male victims.
Just as the Ogoshis lured their victims through fake profiles, similar cases have surfaced where Nigerian syndicates pose as romantic interests or business associates to manipulate their targets.
The brothers’ case is not an isolated incident in which Nigerian scam gangs hold up notorious image of the country in the international community and making it difficult for genuine Nigerian businesses to earn the confidence of prospective international partners.
Scam syndicates in Nigeria cut across the age demography and spread across many cities in the states of the country. But the scale of scam assaults hitting the world from Lagos is threatening to become a global pandemic, denigrating the reputation of the country and its good citizens.
According to data available from the United States Department of Justice and the Interpol, Nigerian fraudsters have been involved in various forms of online scam; including romance scams, business email compromise (BEC), and sextortion. The schemes exploit the anonymity of the internet and amorphous operating mode of the fraudsters to defraud victims.
In recent years, U.S. law enforcement agencies claimed to have cracked down on several Nigerian-led criminal networks responsible for millions of dollars in fraud.
According to records from the US law enforcement, email scams popularly called 419 became popularly associated with Nigeria after large troves letters targeting victims poured out from Lagos in the 1990s. The letters promising large sums of money in exchange for upfront fees copied prototypes from Nigerian government officials seeking foreign cover for stolen funds.
Within this period, a prominent Nigerian bank director was convicted for defrauding a Brazilian bank of $242 million. Same culprit was arrested again in 2008 for continued fraudulent activities.
In 2016, the FBI launched multiple operations targeting Nigerian romance scam networks used by scammers to defraud victims by posing as romantic partners and convincing the victims to money.
The FBI announced the arrest of 80 individuals, mainly Nigerians, in connection with a global cyber-fraud operation that targeted businesses and individuals and stole millions of dollars through email compromise schemes and online scams. Documents showed that most the culprits operated out of Lagos. And their activities often resulted in financial ruin and tragic loss of life.
The 2020 Hushpuppi’s arrest is still very fresh in memory because it involved a highly regarded senior police officer, Deputy police commissioner Abba Kyari, who was protected by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abba Kyari allegedly facilitated payments to police officers from Ray Hushpuppi who has pleaded guilty to money laundering in the US. Mr Kyari allegedly sent Hushpuppi details of a bank account in which he could deposit payment for the arrest, the statement said.
Hushpuppi, also called Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, was arrested in Dubai and later extradited to the U.S. for his involvement in a series of fraudulent schemes, including business email compromise (BEC) and romance scams that defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Following the Hushpuppi saga, the FBI in 2021 conducted expanded raids on Nigerian BEC syndicates. The agency had announced that it was working with Interpol to intensify efforts and dismantle Nigerian BEC syndicates.
Several raids took place across Lagos and other cities, leading to arrests of key figures in cybercrime rings: and the international dragnet that focused on Nigeria amplify how the level of sophistication of cybercrime in Nigeria has drawn the attention of international law enforcement agencies.
As these criminal syndicates grow more sophisticated, international cooperation with Nigerian authorities will be crucial in curbing their reach and protecting potential victims. The case against the Ogoshis is a grim reminder of how deeply these schemes can affect victims, leaving families like the DeMays forever scarred by the loss of a loved one.
U.S. Attorney, Mark Totten, emphasized that these criminals “are not immune from justice,” and the effort to bring them to trial highlights the commitment to holding these syndicates accountable.
Yet, the persistence of such scams in Lagos, driven by economic desperation and the widespread adoption of online fraud tactics, indicates that the battle against these networks is far from over especially when senior government law enforcement officials are involved as in the case of Hushpuppi.
