Many Nigerians were not surprised after the arrest of Dubai based Nigerian millionaire, Hushpuppi, whose real name is Ramoni Abass Igbalode by the InterPol and the Dubai Police. Hushpuppi is notorious for his flamboyant lifestyle on social media. He is also friends with top Nigerian politicians and entertainers.
The United States Secret Service had in May announced that a Nigerian cybergang, Scattered Canary, was targeting unemployment benefits in various states in the US including Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Wyoming and Washington. The US said the fraudsters used identities of people who have not lost their jobs to file for the benefits. They are able to have the money sent to prepaid debit cards associated with banks accounts, from which they can have it transferred internationally or quickly exchanged for bitcoin or gift cards.
Hushpuppi is the latest of the crime ring that has been arrested in connection with the scam. The Dubai Police simultaneously carried out the arrest operation called “Fox Hunt 2” while Hushpuppi and other suspects slept in their Dubai residences. The arrest was according to Dubai police is the result of months of painstaking investigation and hours of monitoring Hushpuppi and his gang’s social media accounts and were able to confirm their whereabouts and their fraudulent activities.
He allegedly created fake pages for existing websites in order to redirect victims’ payments to the gang’s accounts. His gang hacked into corporate emails and sent fake messages to clients in order to redirect financial transfers and peoples bank details.
The Dubai police revealed that the social media personality committed fraud amounting to N168billion. The authority said seized items worth 150 million Dirhams were confiscated from the gang while 21 personal computers, 47 smartphones, 15 flash drives and 5 hard disks were also taken into custody.
Since the arrest was confirmed via a video released on social media by the Dubai authority, Nigerians have taken to social media to drag controversial On Air Personality (OAP) and Pentecostal Pastors critic, Daddy Freeze, who last year did a documentary on the flamboyant lifestyle of Hushpuppi.
In the video shared on social media, Daddy Freeze was heard saying “Hushpuppi’s driver earns N700,000 monthly while you that abuses him on social media are doing houseboy work and earn N35,000 a month. Instead of you to beg Hushpuppi to hire your father as a driver.”
@Donviz said, “After all said and done, Daddy Freeze can be used as a bad example. #Daddyfreeze. @Prettiany said, “#DaddyFreeze Freeze u are d biggest hypocrite of all time.” While @BenedictSilas3 said, “@pshegsWhat is the difference between Church hating Christians and the Antichrist? They have the same agenda, close the churches down because of a virus. It even go against the scriptures. God keeps exposing them one by one.”
