The Nigeria Police Force, Airport Police Command, has arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly defrauding multiple victims in the United States of over N1bn in an international romance and celebrity scam.
The suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, was arrested on January 5, by operatives of the Command’s Anti-Fraud Unit while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.
According to a statement by the command’s spokesperson, Mohammed Adeola, the arrest followed months of intelligence-led surveillance aimed at preventing criminal suspects from using Nigerian airports as escape routes.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Akpama, who previously lived in Calabar, Cross River State, relocated to Lagos on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated several fraudulent schemes targeting foreign victims.
According to the police, the suspect allegedly defrauded a 47-year-old American woman of $1 million under the pretext of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage. The funds were reportedly obtained through a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly called “4 Way Mirror Money.”
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, who previously resided in Calabar, Cross River State, relocated to Lagos State on 23rd February, 2024, from where he coordinated and executed several fraudulent schemes. In one instance in 2024, the suspect, through a celebrity scam modus operandi, deceived a 47-year-old female victim in the United States into transferring one million US dollars under the pretext of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage.
“The funds were fraudulently solicited through a cryptocurrency scheme identified as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly known as “4 Way Mirror Money,” the statement read.
Further investigations showed that the suspect also allegedly swindled another victim, a 70-year-old American woman, of N25,709,400 (about $18,000) through the purchase of gift cards, mobile phones, and computer equipment shipped to Nigeria at his direction.
Items recovered from the suspect include one MacBook Pro (14-inch), one iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, with a total estimated value of N8,141,367.
Police said the suspect posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were required for secure communication.
The Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, Ogunbode Olufunke, reaffirmed the command’s commitment to combating transnational crimes and preventing the exploitation of airport corridors by criminal elements.
She added that the command would continue to deploy intelligence-driven operations to dismantle criminal networks operating within Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.
The case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation, while the suspect will be arraigned in court at the conclusion of investigations.
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