What is the biggest scamming country?
While Nigeria is most often the nation referred to in these scams, they originate in other nations as well. In 2006, 61% of internet criminals were traced to locations in the United States, while 16% were traced to the United Kingdom, and 6% to Nigeria.
What is a Nigerian Yahoo boy?
Yahoo boy (plural Yahoo boys) (Nigeria) A man who carries out 419 fraud.
Emmanuel Nwude is a Nigerian advance-fee fraud artist and former Director of Union Bank of Nigeria. He is known for defrauding Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil’s Banco Noroeste based in São Paulo, of $242 million: $191 million in cash and the remainder in the form of outstanding interest, between 1995 and 1998. Wikipedia
Born: Nigeria
Criminal penalty: 25 years for fraud case
Criminal status: Released in fraud case, but currently in custody on murder charges
Known for: Defrauding $242 million out of Banco Noroeste and alleged attack on the Nigerian town of Ukpo
Partner(s): Emmanuel Ofolue, Nzeribe Okoli, Obum Osakwe, Christian Ikechukwu Anajemba and Amaka Anajemba
Once upon a time, before he carried out the biggest scam in Nigeria (and the third-largest in banking history), Emmanuel Nwude was an average guy who worked as the Director of the Union Bank of Nigeria. In addition to regular income, that job gave him access to a lot of classified documents and information. In 1995, after he quit his job as Director of the Union Bank of Nigeria, Nwude used the inside information from his former job to pretend to be Paul Ogwuma, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Then, the fake Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria convinced Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director of Brazil’s Banco Noroeste to buy a stake in Nigeria’s newest airport—which was just about to be built—in the capital city Abuja for around $242 million. If the Brazilian bank Director got in on the ground floor before the airport was built, claimed Nwude, he would get about $10 million in commission as well as the dividends of his airport investment. Eager to cash in on a sweetheart deal, Sakaguchi paid Nwude (pretending to be Ogwuma) $191 million in cash and $51 million in outstanding interest.
Unfortunately for the Brazilian bank Director, the Abuja airport was a complete fiction. But, by the time he figured it out, Nwude (and his accomplices) fled with the money.
2, http://9jabook.com/profiles/blogs/the-worst-ever-naija-scammer
Tobechi Onwuhara the Wash Wash King !
In his ancestral homeland, Onwuhara might have been a chief. In America he became one of the world’s most successful cyberscammers, a criminal genius who used his talents to filet a poorly regulated banking and credit system. In less than three years Onwuhara stole a confirmed $44 million, according to the FBI, which believes the total may be anywhere from $80 million to $100 million. All he needed was an Internet connection and a cellphone.
Onwuhara called it “washing.” He’d set up a boiler room in a fancy hotel (the Waldorf-Astoria was another favorite) to wash information on wealthy victims. Then he’d wash bank accounts. One group in his crew would do online research using databases and websites to harvest names, dates of birth, and mortgage information. They’d build profiles of victims for a second group, who would call banks posing as account holders. The callers cadged security information and passwords. Then Onwuhara would breach the accounts and wire funds from them to a network of money mules he had established in Asia. The money would be laundered and wired back to his accounts in the U.S.
Is Hushpuppi richer than Davido?
Davido’s net worth is estimated around $16million while Wizkid is estimated around $14 milliion dollars with a difference of only $2 million between the two. Hushpuppi has been estimated around the region of $20 million dollars.
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$11m fraud: Invictus Obi pleads guilty, ‘faces up to 20 years in …
Now Lets Meet The White Guys !
The world’s wealthiest scammers who were brought to justice
Filthy-rich fraudsters who got their comeuppance
The world’s most audacious scammers got ridiculously rich or boosted their wealth by doing everything from embezzling company cash to running elaborate Ponzi schemes and engaging in other cunning financial frauds. While some high-net-worth fraudsters have never been charged for their crimes, many have done serious jail time or are currently serving long stretches in prison. We reveal 14 of the wealthiest fleecers who were eventually brought to justice.
Raffaello Follieri: four-years-and-six-month custodial sentence
The brains behind the so-called ‘Vati-Con’ scandal, Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri, who moved to New York in 2003, fooled rich people including Bill Clinton into investing millions of dollars to buy Catholic churches in the US on behalf of the Vatican. In reality Follieri, who was dating actress Anne Hathaway at the time, had zero connection with the Holy See and used the cash to fund his OTT lifestyle.
Raffaello Follieri: four-years-and-six-month custodial sentence
Follieri was renting a $37,000-a-month Manhattan apartment, chartering yachts in the Med, jetsetting around the world in private jets and more. Much to the horror of Hathaway (who went on to dump her beau) and Follieri’s big-name investors, the scheme was uncovered as a sham by the FBI and the real estate developer was sentenced in 2008 to a jail term of four years and six months.
Christophe Rocancourt: four-years-and-10-month custodial sentence
French confidence trickster Christophe Rocancourt (pictured here with supermodel Naomi Campbell) used more than a dozen aliases to scam his affluent victims out of an estimated $40 million (£31m), posing as a Rockefeller heir, member of the French nobility, hotshot movie producer, illegitimate son of Sophia Loren and nephew of fashion designer Oscar De La Renta at various points in his corrupt career.
Christophe Rocancourt: four-years-and-10-month custodial sentence
Rocancourt even conned a Playboy model into marrying him, talked Jean-Claude Van Damme into producing a non-existent movie and freeloaded off actor Mickey Rourke, staying at his home rent-free. The scammer was finally caught in Canada in 2001 and served a year in prison before being extradited to New York, where he was sentenced to a jail term of three years and 10 months.
Charles Ponzi: five-year custodial sentence
Mgreason at English Wikipedia [Public domain]
One of the most infamous scammers of all time, Charles Ponzi was born in Italy and operated in the US during the late 1910s and early 1920s. In 1919, Ponzi perfected the scheme that bears his name, which entices investors with a deal they can’t refuse and pays profits to earlier investors with cash gleaned from the more recent participants.
Charles Ponzi: five-year custodial sentence
US Goverment [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The scheme involved buying discounted postal reply coupons overseas which would, according to Ponzi, be redeemed in the US at face value. It was exposed as a fraud in 1920, but by this point Ponzi had fleeced investors out of $20 million, the equivalent of $254 million (£196m) today, and was living a life of luxury. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison for the crime.
Joseph Weil: six-year custodial sentence
Courtesy Chicago History Museum
Con-artist extraordinaire Joseph Weil (pictured left) has gone down in history as one of America’s most successful confidence tricksters. Born in Chicago, Weil was active during the late 19th and early to mid 20th century, and is said to have hustled more than $8 million (£6m) during his long and chequered criminal career.
Joseph Weil: six-year custodial sentence
Courtesy Digital Research Library of Illinois History
Nicknamed ‘Yellow Kid’, Weil kicked off his career in the 1890s by selling unsuspecting customers an ‘elixir’ made from rainwater for an outrageously inflated price. His most jaw-dropping cons included duping Italian dictator Benito Mussolini out of $2 million and extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars from rich bankers. Despite his many scams, Weil spent just six years in prison and died in 1976 at the ripe old age of 100.
Calisto Tanzi: eight-years-and-one-month custodial sentence
Boasting a personal fortune of $1.3 billion (£1bn) before the cops came knocking on his door, Italian businessman Calisto Tanzi was convicted in 2008 for embezzling almost a billion dollars from Parmalat, the dairy and food company he founded in 1961. As a consequence of Tanzi’s fraud, the firm collapsed in what is still Europe’s biggest bankruptcy.
Calisto Tanzi: eight-years-and-one-month custodial sentence
The disgraced CEO was also prosecuted for his involvement in the bankruptcy of tourism firm Parmatour, as well as the financial collapse of Italian Serie A football club Parma. Tanzi was eventually jailed in 2008 for eight years and one month, and many of his ill-gotten gains were confiscated, including works of art by Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet.
Cassie Chadwick: 14-year custodial sentence
Unknown photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
From 1897 to 1904, Canadian clairvoyant Cassie Chadwick duped several US banks into believing she was the illegitimate daughter of Gilded Age tycoon Andrew Carnegie, and scammed them out of up to $20 million, around $600 million (£462) in today’s money. Dubbed ‘the Queen of Ohio’, the Cleveland-based charlatan lived a lavish lifestyle until her swindle was discovered.
Cassie Chadwick: 14-year custodial sentence
Unknown photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Chadwick resided in a palatial mansion on Cleveland’s Millionaires’ Row (pictured), splurged on diamond necklaces, snapped up a gold organ and bought enough clothes to fill 30 closets. In 1905, the wily operator was sentenced to 14 years incarceration in Ohio State Penitentiary, but died in 1907, just two years into her jail term.
Reed Slatkin: 14-year custodial sentence
Scientology minister Reed Slatkin masterminded one of America’s largest Ponzi schemes. From 1986 to 2001, the crooked Santa Barbara-based investment expert sweet-talked 800 wealthy people, many of whom were staunch Scientologists, into parting with almost $600 million (£462m). Notable duped investors included actors Anne Archer and Giovanni Ribisi, and movie producer Art Linson.
Reed Slatkin: 14-year custodial sentence
Michael Gordon/Shutterstock
The cash was channelled into the Church of Scientology’s coffers and Slatkin’s personal bank accounts enabling him to live like a king. His assets included a sprawling Santa Barbara estate, a private jet and numerous luxury cars. The scam was eventually exposed in 2001 and Slatkin received a 14-year jail sentence as a result.
Huang Guangyu: 14-year custodial sentence
Huang Guangyu was the chairman of GOME Group, China’s largest consumer electronics retailer and was China’s richest individual in 2006 with a fortune of some $2.3 billion (£1.8bn). In 2008, he was arrested and charged with stock market manipulation, illegal foreign exchange dealing and bribery.
Huang Guangyu: 14-year custodial sentence
Huang was sentenced two years later to a hefty 14 years in jail for the crimes, but his stint in prison hasn’t stopped him from gaining control over the electronics retailing giant. Running the firm from his cell, the disgraced boss has been likened to American gangster Al Capone who also managed his empire from prison.
Samuel Israel III: 22-year custodial sentence
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, American-born hedge fund manager Samuel Israel III ran a complicated Ponzi scheme, even going as far as to create a fake accounting firm in an attempt to cover up his dodgy dealings. The US authorities discovered the dubious scheme in 2005 and Israel was indicted.
Samuel Israel III: 22-year custodial sentence
Israel went on the run not long after and even attempted to fake his own death in order to elude the cops. The unscrupulous billionaire was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in jail, and eventually surrendered to the FBI in July 2008. Israel was sentenced to an additional two years for absconding.
Dennis Kozlowski: 25-year custodial sentence
The erstwhile CEO of security giant Tyco International, Dennis Kozlowski creamed $150 million (£116m) in unauthorised bonuses and loans from the company during the 1990s and early 2000s according to Forbes. Kozlowski’s spending was legendary. The Tyco boss snagged a $30 million (£23m) apartment in Manhattan and spent $6,000 (£4,600) on shower curtains and $30,000 (£23,000) on dog umbrella stands.
Dennis Kozlowski: 25-year custodial sentence
In 2001, Kozlowski spent $2 million (£1.5m) on an Ancient Rome-themed birthday party for his wife, which was dubbed ‘the Tyco Roman Orgy’ by the press. His crimes were exposed a year later. Kozlowski was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in jail, but granted a conditional release in 2014.
Bernard Ebbers: 25-year custodial sentence
Having amassed mega-bucks before he was brought to justice, Canadian-born billionaire Bernard Ebbers pulled off one of the largest accounting scams in US history. As CEO of WorldCom, Ebbers oversaw false financial reporting and defrauded investors on an epic scale between January 2001 and March 2002.
Bernard Ebbers: 25-year custodial sentence
Ebbers spent the proceeds building a real estate empire and splashed out on yachts and other luxuries. In August 2003, the law finally caught up with him. The corrupt CEO was indicted on 15 counts of false financial reporting and eventually convicted of nine felonies on March 15, 2005. Four months later, Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in a low-security jail.
Barry Minkow: 35-year custodial sentence
Courtesy underground LA/YouTube
Serial fraudster Barry Minkow set up ZZZZ Best in 1981 at high school. He was just 15 year old when he established the carpet-cleaning and restoration company, which was a front for what became one of America’s largest Ponzi schemes and accounting frauds. When it came crashing down in 1987, Minkow had defrauded investors and lenders out of $100 million.
Barry Minkow: 35-year custodial sentence
Africa Studio/Shutterstock
Minkow was sentenced to a 25-year jail term but scored an early release in 1995. Seemingly reformed, he became a pastor and fraud investigator, but was convicted in 2011 of insider trading after plotting to drive down the stock price of homebuilder Lennar, and received a five-year sentence. In 2014, Minkow was sent down for another five years, this time for defrauding his church. He is due for release in June.
Allen Stanford: 110-year custodial sentence
Crooked American-Antiguan executive Allen Stanford chaired the Stanford Financial Group and was a major sports sponsor. He was indicted by US federal authorities in February 2009 for setting up a massive Ponzi scheme, which relieved investors of a total of $7 billion (£5.4bn) in certificates of deposits. Stanford, who was based in Antigua, even managed to bag a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II before his fraud was revealed.
Allen Stanford: 110-year custodial sentence
Stanford turned himself in on 18 June 18 2009, and was convicted of the fraud in March 2012. The disreputable boss was sentenced to 110 years in jail, and is currently serving time at the high-security United States Penitentiary, Coleman in Florida. Needless to say, his knighthood has since been revoked.
Bankrupt billionaires who lost it all
Bernie Madoff: 150-year custodial sentence
Bernie Madoff duped 4,800 clients out of a staggering $64.8 billion (£50bn), operating the biggest financial fraud in the US history and the world’s largest Ponzi scheme. His clients included HSBC, AXA, Mitsubishi and celebrities including Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon and Larry King. The notorious scammer was investigated by federal authorities on several occasions during the 2000s and finally indicted for the fraud in December 2008.
Bernie Madoff: 150-year custodial sentence
Madoff confessed to transforming his wealth management business into a colossal Ponzi scheme during the 1990s and pleaded guilty to 11 felonies in March 2009. The brazen fraudster was eventually sentenced to a staggering 150 years in prison for the crime, the maximum possible sentence allowed.
