Posted on 07/11/2020 10:54:59 AM PDT by libh8er
A Nigerian Instagram star who boasted online about his lavish lifestyle of private jets, designer clothes and luxury cars has been busted in a $431 million cyber scam, according to a report.
Raymond Abbas, known as Hushpuppi to his 2.4 million followers, was nabbed earlier this month in Dubai for an alleged scheme that involved ripping off credit card information overseas, the Times of the UK reported.
“The suspects targeted victims overseas by creating fake websites for well-known companies and banks in a bid to steal victims’ credit card information and then launder the stolen money,” Dubai police Brig. Jamal al-Jalaf said.
He and at least a dozen other associates were busted in the international operation, code-named Fox Hunt 2, after detectives used their social media to track their locations, the outlet reported.
During the raids, investigators uncovered email addresses of nearly 2 million victims on dozens of phones, computers and hard drives, the report said.
Abbas, who once posted a video of himself tossing $100 bills as confetti, has also been accused of fraud in Europe, America and Nigeria, according to the report.
Investigators said Abbas, 38, who passed himself off as a wealthy real estate developer, flaunted his collections of luxury cars, shoes, watches and other goods to help “lure victims from all over the world,” the outlet reported.
The FBI and Interpol raided his Dubai apartment as he slept and seized more than £30 million, or $37 million, in cash, the report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Shoe betcha!
All he wanted was to share his inheritance with you.
Lets hope there will be a swift Head Removal
Do you think he would rather be in jail in Dubai or Nigeria?
My impression is that the powers that be in Dubai might be less susceptible to bribery, so I would like him to stay there.
Maybe a trip to chop-chop square for thievery.
Actually he is here in the US now facing charges. This is where he is going to jail.
That guy owes me money!!
Don’t know why he’s reading Forbes. If he made $431 million scamming people, it’s probably for the LOLs.
And how long before BLM cries racism ?
I don’t know about punishment - anyone who had to wear the coat in the last picture has already suffered enough. Did someone get the material out of a hotel carpet?
Never understand how people can get sucked in by these folks.
You would have to be monumental stupid.
Maybe now I’ll FINALLY get that payout that Nigerian prince wanted me to help him get out of the country.
Love the moniker “Hushpuppi.” It’s right up there with “Corn Pop.” And the ‘Puppi is rockin’ those bottle-green loafers.
A few decades ago I worked with a retired USMC Colonel. His first job after retirement was with a consulting firm in D.C. One Friday evening the Feds show up after work hours. He calls his boss. They are looking for the owner (and primary shareholder) of the company. Turns out the owner never used a computer in his life. The company was having a hard time and the owner took $50K of his money and $100K of the company money (all cash) to London in a suitcase and gave to a well dressed man from Nigeria. The owner went to prison over it.
Is there a conservative who knows what an “Instagram star” is?
Is that like a professional race driver in Mario cart?
(Bubba Pointing at you)
When my Dad had early dementia (before the family got a POA) he was giving money to a scammer. It was obvious to everyone but him.
So I feel sorry for victims with brain damage of some sort, the others not so much.
Not necessarily. A lot of these scams are pretty sophisticated.
Equifax got hacked (or was it an inside job?) and all credit information on 150 million Americans was taken. There are only ~250 million adults, and not all have credit ratings, so, if you're an American adult with a credit score, there's a better than 50% chance your data has been compromised.
True story: about fifteen years ago, I got a credit card sent to me by Chase bank. I never used it, never needed it, and never activated it. Got a call from Chase asking if I had purchased flights from France to Germany. How did the scammers get the data?
I contribute monthly to Donald Trump. Because of this, I get about 100 emails a day asking for campaign contributions. Because email accounts show a display name, instead of the email address, I get emails from Donald Trump that have a return address of victory@keepamericared or some such.
There are also some email scams that send emails indistinguishable from actual financial institutions. They'll say things like "account overdraft alert" and provide a link. The link goes to a scam site that looks like the bank login page. You enter your account name and password, and they've got it. They may even redirect you to your actual bank.
Tried using turbotax this year for my tax returns. I'm entering information, and one of the pages asks me to enter my bank login name and password. I stopped my turbotax return right then, logged out, and did them on paper (as I've always done.)
PS: Guarantee you the guy in those photos wasn't the brains of the operation.
WAIT!! This guy told me he was the Vice-President of Nigeria.
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