A Nigerian arrested in the UAE for his role in an $8 million phishing scam in 2020 has been sentenced to eight years in a US prison.
Olalekan Jacob Ponle – known as Mr Woodberry or Mark Kain – worked alongside social media influencer Ramon Abbas, who went by the name Hushpuppi while living a luxury life in Dubai .
Both men were arrested in the UAE in June 2020 with 10 others under the Dubai Police Operation Fox Hunt 2.
Ponle, 31, was extradited to Chicago in July 2020, and pleaded guilty this year to a federal wire fraud charge.
Luxury lifestyle
Abbas, 41, received an 11-year sentence for a similar fraud in 2022 after his arrest at the Versace hotel in Dubai where he lived, an example of his lavish lifestyle he was happy to display on social media.
While UAE residents, the scammers used phishing links to hack email accounts to create false payments from employees of numerous businesses into bank accounts operated by Ponle’s money mules.
Fraudulent emails claimed to be from the company or a known business contact were almost identical to previous legitimate emails sent from the company’s email account.
The mules were then told to transfer cash taken from unwitting employees into Bitcoin, and transfer it to Ponle.
Investigators said the gang had obtained email addresses of about 800,000 people to establish the international fraud using fake websites and identity theft.
Get the latest news and analysis from the Emirates
By signing up, I agree to The National's privacy policy
Companies suffered more than $8.03 million in actual losses and more than $51.3 million in 'intended losses' – a number based on how much would have been lost had every criminal attempt been successful.
One of the victim companies was in Chicago, while others were located in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York, California, and elsewhere.
Ponle splashed out on numerous luxury items using proceeds traced to the con, including a Rolls Royce Cullinan, Lamborghini Urus, Mercedes-Benz G-Class AMG G55, and Rolex and Patek Philippe watches.
Ponle previously forfeited to the US government 151 Bitcoin, which were also derived from proceeds traceable to the scam.
The current market value of Bitcoin would place the total cryptocurrency’s worth at about $4.5 million.
Ponle was ordered to pay more than $8.03 million in restitution to the victim companies and forfeit the numerous luxury items bought with criminal proceeds.
