Law enforcement authorities in Thailand and the United States have cracked down on separate fraud schemes involving Nigerian nationals, resulting in the arrest of six suspects in Bangkok and the sentencing of a Nigerian-American in Alaska.
In Thailand, police arrested six Nigerians during a raid on a luxury condominium in Nonthaburi province over their alleged involvement in a romance scam network targeting unsuspecting victims.
The operation, codenamed “Dark Room Crackdown,” followed weeks of investigations into foreign criminal syndicates linked to suspicious financial transactions.
Officers executed search warrants on three apartments in a riverside condominium near Phra Nang Klao Bridge in Bang Kraso, where they recovered 18 mobile phones, three laptops and three bank books said to contain scam scripts, chat logs and AI-generated profile images.
The suspects — Denis (23), Ejikeme (24), Ibekwe (29), Okorom (26), Nwosu (30) and Obielu (35) — were apprehended at the scene.
Thai authorities disclosed that five of the suspects had overstayed their visas for periods ranging from 695 to 1,560 days. Investigations further revealed that the group entered Thailand on student visas but were neither enrolled in any institution nor engaged in legitimate employment, despite evidence of substantial deposits in their bank accounts.
During the raid, some of the suspects reportedly resisted arrest, forcing officers to break into certain rooms. One suspect allegedly attempted to escape through a balcony, while another was found hiding in a bathroom while alerting accomplices.
Preliminary findings showed that the syndicate posed as foreign professionals — including pilots, engineers, doctors, soldiers and lawyers — using fake identities across platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat, TikTok, Line and Zalo to build romantic relationships with victims.
Police said the suspects typically deceived victims, many of them older women, into believing that parcels had been detained by customs authorities, before demanding payments for their release.
The suspects have since been transferred to Rattanathibet Police Station and are facing charges related to membership of a secret society and visa violations, with additional fraud-related charges expected as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, in the United States, a 33-year-old Nigerian-American, Adepoju Salako, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to defraud Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend programme of over $22,000.
Salako pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud after admitting to hijacking the online accounts of seven Alaska residents and attempting to redirect their annual dividend payments into bank accounts under his control.
According to prosecutors, the convict obtained the victims’ personal information and accessed their “myAlaska” accounts, changing email addresses and payment details to facilitate the fraud.
To conceal his identity, Salako used a Virtual Private Network to make most of the fraudulent applications appear as if they originated from within Alaska, although one was traced to his Philadelphia IP address.
The Alaska Department of Revenue detected the irregularities and blocked all seven transactions, preventing a loss of $22,988.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said the case underscored the determination of authorities to prosecute financial crimes, noting that even unsuccessful fraud attempts carry serious consequences.
Officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alaska Department of Revenue also warned against attempts to exploit government programmes through identity theft and cybercrime.
Salako’s 18-month sentence will run concurrently with an earlier six-and-a-half-year prison term imposed in Colorado over a separate COVID-19 relief fraud and international money laundering case, for which he was also ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
Authorities say both cases highlight the growing scale and sophistication of transnational fraud schemes involving identity theft, cybercrime and financial deception.
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