close
Thursday, May 1, 2025

Lagos Yahoo Boy indicted in U.S. for $227,000 wire fraud, money laundering

The court filings stated, “The licence contained J. S’s real date of birth, address, physical description and driver’s licence number.’’

• May 1, 2025
U.S flag
U.S flag(Credit: eBay)

Mojeed Yinusa is the latest Nigerian Yahoo Boy to be indicted by the U.S. government over an eight-count charge of wire fraud and money-laundering in the U.S. District Court District of Minnesota on Tuesday. 

According to court filings seen by Peoples Gazette, Mr Yinusa compromised the business email of Company A and filtered the organisation’s emails in such a manner that new mails were redirected to a hidden folder.

The filtering rules were to conceal the fraudulent correspondence from the authentic handlers of the company’s email.

The Yahoo Boy “carried out a business email compromise scheme that targeted and deceived employees of Company A and National Bank of Commerce,” noted the indictment filed on Tuesday.

Mr Yinusa, using Company A’s email, thereafter, contacted the National Bank of Commerce, to notify them of a change in leadership specifically that J.S., a so-called new director of finance, had been appointed.

He asked that J.S. be granted full access to Company A’s accounts. The National Bank of Commerce asked for IDs and other forms to fill to ascertain J.S. identity, Mr Yinusa provided a fake driving licence that claimed J.S. was from West Virginia.

“The licence contained J. S’s real date of birth, address, physical description and driver’s licence number,” stated court filings.

On February 9, 2023, he emailed the completed forms to the bank which granted J.S. access to the Company A’s accounts including those ending in –5038 and –7118.

It didn’t take long for Mr Yinusa to drain the account making fraudulent withdrawals. He transferred $103,930 from Company A’s account to another account under his control on February 17, 2023.

On February 23 the same year, he transferred another tranche of $125,000 from the company’s account to another account.

He attempted to transfer $109,302 and $80,000 on February 14 and 16 2023 but the transactions were unsuccessful.

By the time the owner of the company realised his organisation’s email was compromised, Mr Yinusa had allegedly stolen $227,000 from the account. His information has been passed onto the FBI for investigation and action.

The Yahoo Boy still seems to be at large in Nigeria. It was unclear if the FBI had reached the EFCC to help track him down for potential extradition to Minnesota for trial.

While Nigerians including Hushpuppi, Woodberry, Bolanle Bombata a.k.a. Bobo Chicago are languishing in U.S. jails for scamming American citizens, the traditional ruler Apetu of Ipetumodu Oba Joseph Oloyede and Pastor Edward Abiodun Oluwasanmi are facing trials for their alleged role in multimillion-naira Internet fraud.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Abubakar Kyari

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

UNIBEN

States

UNIBEN appoints Arishe as new orator

The statement described Mr Arishe as widely respected for his work on judicial independence and access to justice across Africa.

Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

NationWide

Phase 1 Lagos-Calabar coastal highway ready by January 2026: Umahi

Mr Umahi stated, “We are going to surpass the 20km from this site.’’

Bayo Ojulari and NNPC composite

Hot news Home top

JUST IN: Bayo Ojulari sacks heads of Port-Harcourt, Kaduna, Warri refineries 

Officials said Mr Ojulari took the decision to halt “continued value erosion in Nigeria’s refining sector.”

Nigerian Workers

States

Labour unions in Rivers seek improved workers’ welfare

Mr Agwanwor stressed the importance of democratic governance and a good working relationship with elected representatives.

Paystack Logo used to tell the story.

Hot news Home top

Paystack fined N250 million for violating CBN regulations 

Paystack’s Zap, launched in March, was tested by co-founder and CEO Shola Akinlade before a live audience to transfer funds to another account.

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo

States

May Day: Okpebholo raises minimum wage from N70,000 to N75,000 for Edo workers

Mr Okpebholo disclosed that his administration also hired 500 teachers.