The United States Government has dismissed as fake the reports that the detained Nigerian influencer Ramon Abbas, known as Hushpuppi, executed a $400,000 internet fraud from prison.
On Thursday, a document emerged on social media claiming that the FBI filed new evidence against Hushpuppi on Wednesday for defrauding Americans using prison internet facilities.
It is not clear where the document originated from yet it has gone viral on Twitter and been reported by many news organisations.
However, an official of the US Department of Justice told the BBC that the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which filed the case against Hushpuppi, has not filed any such document.
“The document appears to have been fabricated… We have checked with the FBI who supposedly authored the document, and they confirm it is a fake,” an official said.
The report had claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) filed fresh charges against Hushpuppi, over conspiracy to launder over $400,000 while in prison.
It was reported that the FBI agent, Andrew John Innocenti, presented documents before the United States District Court of California on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, with fresh evidence indicting Hushpuppi of committing fraud and money laundering in U.S. Federal correctional facility.
The court documents allegedly stated that Hushpuppi, while in U.S. Federal correctional facility, participated in the purchase and laundering of Economic Impact Payment debit cards fraudulently obtained from stolen data of U.S. citizens and residents.
Economic Impact Payments are financial support offered by the US government to U.S. residents according to the CARES Act. One of the ways eligible US residents receive their Economic Impact Payments is by debit cards.
From the documents allegedly presented in court, it was found that hackers use data of U.S. residents to file and obtain Economic Impact Payments debit cards. They sell off these EIP cards in underground marketplaces to other cyber criminals.
The report found that Hushpuppi was actively buying EIP debit cards from an underground cyber criminal marketplace called Stimulus Card (“https://stimuluscard.com/”).
While being recorded, Hushpuppi allegedly bought a total of 58 EIP debit cards with a total value of $429,800 on the site and laundered the money through one AJ.
The document read in part: “Ramon Olorunwa Abbas is a Nigerian national previously living in the United Arab Emirates (the ‘U.A.E.’) but currently incarcerated in the US Federal correctional facility, Central District of California, on charges of money laundering.
“The FBI’s investigation has revealed that Abbas, while in a US Federal correctional facility, participated in the purchase of Economic Impact Payment debit cards fraudulently obtained from compromised data of US citizens.
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“Economic Impact Payments —commonly referred to as “stimulus checks” or “recovery rebates”— are a key provision of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act legislation that Congress passed to help reduce the financial burden on citizens and residents across the United States. Economic Impact Payments are non-taxable income that does not need to be paid back. Economic Impact Payments debit cards are a means of disbursement of payments. Economic Impact Payments debit cards, commonly called EIP cards, are issued on the VISA network by Meta Bank, South Dakota, US.
“This affidavit presents new information involving Abbas which supports Affidavit 1 of Case No 2:20-mj-02992. Recorded internet activities (reviewed pursuant to a federal search warrant issued in this District) of Abbas in the US Federal correctional facility, Central District of California, reflect that Abbas purchased Economic Impact Payments debit cards and laundered the proceeds totaling over $400,000.
“Payments debit cards daily for the period we recorded him. He purchased a total of 58 Economic Impact Payments debit cards in this period, with a total value of $429,800.
“19 of the 58 Economic Impact Payments debit cards, Abbas chose the virtual card option for 36 EIP cards and he selected the plastic physical card option for 22 EIP cards.
“Abbas was in constant communication with one AJ. Abbas sent all the cards he bought from stimuluscard.com to AJ.
“Abbas gave instructions to AJ on what to shop online. He gave instructions on what to do with the purchased items.
“Abbas also gave instructions on cash withdrawal from ATMs with the plastic cards.
“One of the communications between ABBAS and AJ were as follows ABBAS: “Guy hw fr? You don receive the 5 new EIP cards?” AJ: “Yes bro” ABBAS: “Ok. Try pull out all the funds today.” AJ: “Fin on it already. Done 2 already.” ABBAS: “Nice one. What about the online purchase for yesterday? I say make you focus on iPhones 13 and PS5. Those ones dey very easy to resell.” AJ: “Yes. I finished that last night. Emptied the cards on Amazon. Iphones and PS5. I already received the 6 Macbook Air and 3 iPad Pro I ordered 3 days ago. My guys came pick them up this looming.” ABBAS: “Aiit. I go send you more EIP cards today.”
“After this conversation, Abbas went ahead to buy more Economic Impact,” the FBI agent stated.
It would be recalled that Hushpuppi is facing criminal charges in the United States for conspiracy to launder money obtained from business email compromise frauds and other scams.
The scams include schemes that defrauded a US law firm of about $40 million.
He was alleged to have illegally transferred $14.7 million from a foreign financial institution and targeted to steal $124 million from an English football club.
Hushpuppi was later arrested by the Dubai Police in June 2020 before he was extradited to the United States.
See the documents below:
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