The United States of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to help track down and arrest two Nigerians, Babatunde Shodiya and Yinka Jamiu, who were declared wanted for allegedly using a fake website to defraud American healthcare providers of $13 million.
Shodiya (43) and Jamiu (31) were indicted by the United States for their alleged involvement in a $13 million fraudulent business email scheme targeting healthcare companies in Minnesota.
They were indicted on September 25 by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota for their role in a scheme that defrauded several healthcare providers between October 2020 and 2024.
The U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said that Shodiya and Jamiu manipulated unsuspecting employees of several Minnesota-based healthcare firms, deceiving them into redirecting payments to fraudulent accounts.
Luger said, “As part of the scheme, Babatunde and Ahmed created a fake ‘spoofed’ internet domain designed to appear as though it was controlled by Fairview Health.”
The Attorney added, “Unbeknownst to the vendor companies, the new accounts were actually controlled by Babatunde and Ahmed and their co-conspirators, not Fairview Health.
“In total, Babatunde and Ahmed fraudulently directed more than $13m in payments intended for Fairview Health from Minnesota-based healthcare companies to accounts controlled by Babatunde, Ahmed, and their co-conspirators.”
Peoples Gazette reports that the U.S. authorities have confirmed that the suspects are Nigerian citizens and are residing in Nigeria.
Sources familiar with the matter reportedly said that American officials have communicated their concerns to Nigeria’s EFCC.
“The U.S. officials reached out to us and informed us that the suspects are believed to be hiding in Nigeria,” an EFCC officer, who spoke to People’s Gazette on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, said.
The EFCC source added, “We have a duty to honor this request in line with our long-standing collaboration with the U.S. in addressing cross-border crimes.”
Shodiya and Jamiu allegedly exploited Optum Pay, a widely used payment system among health service providers in Minnesota, by creating a fake domain to manipulate payment transfers.
They set up the counterfeit website, fairviewhospitals.org, through which they impersonated key officials within the hospital network, including the CEO, executive vice president, and a business analyst, by creating fraudulent email accounts.
Using these fake email addresses, the pair sent phishing emails to Fairview Health employees, tricking them into providing login credentials.
For their role in impersonating Fairview’s executives, Shodiya faces an additional charge of aggravated identity theft, in addition to the wire fraud charges.
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