JUST IN: FBI moves to arrest Nigerian man suspected of stealing ₦460m in crypto meant for Trump’s inauguration

• The FBI has uncovered a $250,300 (₦460 million) crypto scam by a suspected Nigerian fraudster who impersonated a Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee official
• The scammer utilized a fake email with a subtly altered domain to deceive donors into sending funds; the FBI traced and recovered $40,300 done blockchain analysis
• US authorities pass of rising impersonation scams and impulse the nationalist to verify integer transactions cautiously to debar falling victim

Washington, DC, US - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has uncovered a cryptocurrency scam allegedly perpetrated by a Nigerian fraudster that targeted governmental donors intending to enactment the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee successful the United States.

The scam progressive a Business Email Compromise (BEC) cognition that resulted successful the theft of $250,300 (approximately ₦460 million).

Trump Inauguration Funds: FBI Nabs Lagos Man Suspected of Carrying Out ₦460 Million successful Crypto Scam
Source: UGC

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro revealed that portion of the stolen funds, $40,300, was successfully traced and recovered done blockchain analysis.

As contained in a papers by the US Attorney's office, the funds, primitively intended arsenic a governmental donation, had been laundered done a bid of crypto wallets aft being diverted by the fishy utilizing a fake email address.

Fake individuality utilized to impersonate Trump committee official

According to the US Attorney’s Office, the fraud was executed connected December 24, 2024, erstwhile the victims received an email purporting to beryllium from Steve Witkoff, the Co-Chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.

The deceptive email appeared authentic, but person inspection revealed that the domain sanction had been subtly altered, replacing an uppercase “I” with a lowercase “L.”

The scammer, believed to beryllium based successful Lagos, Nigeria, instructed the victims to transfer the funds to a crypto wallet ending successful 58c52.

Believing the connection to beryllium genuine, the victims transferred 250,300 USDT (a stablecoin) to the wallet connected December 26, 2024.

Funds laundered wrong hours; FBI tracks partial recovery

Within conscionable 2 hours, the stolen cryptocurrency was moved crossed respective wallet addresses successful an effort to fell its origin.

However, utilizing blase blockchain analysis, the FBI was capable to retrieve a information of the funds, amounting to $40,300.

Attorney Jeanine Pirro emphasised the value of verifying donation channels earlier sending integer currency.

“All donors should treble and triple cheque that they are sending cryptocurrency to their intended recipient,” she said.

She added:

“It tin beryllium highly hard for instrumentality enforcement to recoup mislaid funds owed to the analyzable quality of blockchain technology.”

FBI warns nationalist astir rising crypto impersonation scams

FBI Assistant Director successful Charge Steven J. Jensen described the lawsuit arsenic a stark reminder of the increasing menace of impersonation scams, which outgo Americans billions each year.

He urged individuals and organisations to scrutinise email addresses, website URLs, and suspicious messages.

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Source: Legit.ng