The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought the assistance of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to track down two Nigerian nationals accused of defrauding American healthcare providers of $13 million through a sophisticated online scheme.
The suspects, Babatunde Shodiya and Yinka Jamiu, have been indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota for orchestrating a fraudulent operation that spanned over four years, from 2020 to 2024.
According to sources familiar with the case, the FBI reached out to the EFCC, urging Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency to locate and apprehend the suspects, who are believed to be hiding in the country.
An EFCC official, speaking anonymously to Peoples Gazette, confirmed the request, stating, “The U.S. officials have reached out to us, and they said the suspects are hiding in the country.
“ We have an obligation to honour the request of our U.S. counterparts as part of our longstanding collaboration to combat cross-border crimes.”
The indictment sheet reveals that Shodiya and Jamiu targeted healthcare providers in Minnesota by manipulating their payment systems.
They allegedly created fake domains to impersonate executives of major healthcare firms and rerouted payments meant for healthcare services into accounts they controlled.
The primary focus of their operation was Fairview Health Services, a prominent health provider in Minnesota.
The suspects registered a counterfeit domain, fairviewhospitals.org, and used it to create email addresses in the names of Fairview’s Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice-President, and Business Analyst.
Posing as these high-ranking officials, they sent emails to Fairview employees, instructing them to click on a link and provide sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords.
Armed with the stolen credentials, the suspects gained access to Fairview’s Optum Pay account—a payment system widely used by healthcare providers in Minnesota—and altered the bank details associated with vendor accounts.
This allowed them to siphon millions of dollars intended for third-party vendors into unauthorized accounts they had set up.
“Defendants Babatunde and Ahmed then changed the banking information on vendor accounts in order to direct third-party vendors to transfer funds intended for Fairview Health into unauthorized bank accounts controlled by the defendants and their co-conspirators,” the indictment sheet stated.
Among the companies defrauded by Shodiya and Jamiu were Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and two other unnamed vendor health service providers.
On July 29, 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield made 18 wire transfers totaling nearly $8 million to an account controlled by the suspects.
Another vendor, identified as Company B in court documents, transferred over $1 million to the fraudulent account on November 19, 2020.
Company A, another health plan provider, also fell victim to the scheme, depositing $2.8 million into the fraudulent account in two installments—$1.4 million on November 25, 2020, and another $1.4 million on December 4, 2020.
Shodiya faces additional charges of aggravated identity theft for impersonating Fairview Health’s CEO and other business executives during the scheme.
The pair is also charged with wire fraud, and any assets or properties linked to the proceeds of the fraud will be forfeited to the U.S. government.
Should the EFCC succeed in locating and arresting Shodiya and Jamiu, they will be extradited to the U.S. to face trial for their crimes.
The collaboration between the FBI and EFCC in combating international financial crimes has been ongoing, and this case highlights the growing importance of cross-border cooperation in addressing the rise of cybercrimes targeting sensitive sectors like healthcare.
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