Skokie Resident Orchestrated Nigerian Online Scam Network: FBI

CHICAGO — The FBI says a Skokie resident was the head of a organized an international fraud scheme involving romance scams, check fraud and fake passports to defraud people out of at least $2 million over the past two years.

Daniel Samuel Eta, 35, of the 4800 block of Elm Street, was arrested Dec. 6 and ordered held without bail ahead of trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole on Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago Wednesday announced the Chicago-based investigation leading to the charge has been named "Operation Gold Phish" after all nine people charged in the scheme were taken into custody.

Eta was the head of an money laundering organization based in the Chicago area that transferred money to co-conspirators in Nigeria, according a criminal complaint filed under seal Dec. 4 by FBI Special Agent Andrew Innocenti.

In his tax returns, Eta, a lawful permanent resident, claimed he worked as a health care provider for two companies in Minnesota since at least 2016. But investigators determined he had gotten another person to work at both companies using his name and Minnesota driver's license to justify his employment in an attempt to gain citizenship, according to the complaint.

The investigation into his finances determined Eta was getting paid for a job he was not working. He was then sending a portion of the funds back to the the man he had gotten to impersonate him since around January 2016 or earlier, who was not named in the FBI's complaint. Eta used payroll stubs from both companies to obtain a mortgage to buy his home in Skokie in August 2017.

Eta conspired with at least eight other people in the U.S. and Nigeria to carry out a variety of fraud schemes on at least 19 victims using email, text messages, social media communication and in-person meetings, according to the FBI complaint. He orchestrated a network of co-conspirators who were able to open U.S. bank accounts with fraudulent European passports with names like "Chattman Ronald Stewart" of France, "Beckham Smith Dave," "Roy Frederick Benson," "Johnson Collins," "Charles Mark," "Samuel Christopher Giles" and "Garry Jimmie Stephen" of the United Kingdom.

The accounts were used to transfer money the scammers defrauded out of variety of different online scams, according to the complaint. In "mystery shopping" the scammers offered fake jobs to people that were actually wire transfer schemes based on cashing bad checks in personal bank accounts. The co-conspirators took part in other job offer scams, investment scams and used compromised business email accounts to instruct people to wire funds to their accounts.

In a series of "romance scams," members of the conspiracy engaged in online relationships to earn the trust of at least 11 victims before stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In one case, a victim who had recently lost their spouse accepted a Facebook "friend request" out of loneliness and and began a romantic relationship with one of the scammers via Facebook, email and Google Hangout. The account used the name "Yusuf Ibrahim" and went by "Frank." The victim was told "Frank" needed money to help pay for his son "Sam's" medical bills and they would eventually live together in the U.S.

In another, a co-conspirator set up an account on the dating website Match.com using the name "Emilia Alois." The fictitious West Hollywood woman told a victim she "needed to go to Brazil to compete for a road project," and later explained she had returned to California but needed to pay a "$3,000 fee to get the equipment out of port and onto the job site."

Another victim was contacted on Instagram by a fictitious woman named "Sarah Allison" who said she lived in London. After communicating on a daily basis for about two months, the woman said she was set to inherit $2.5 million but needed some financial help. She introduced the victim to a the Georgia-based attorney "Ronald Bennetti, Sr." who talked the victim into transferring money into several of the scammers' accounts.

Customs and Border Protection agents seized two of Eta's phones in February 2018 at the airport in Atlanta as he returned to the county, according to the complaint. A search of his phones showed extensive communication between him and the co-conspirators about the transfer of money defrauded from victims. Warrants obtained for email addresses in August 2018 turned up more evidence of scams, according to the complaint.

Eta funneled some of his ill-gotten gains through bank accounts in Nigeria, where he owns a car company called Samwas Partnership Limited, which he used to open up member accounts at U.S. car dealers, the FBI learned. Prosecutors said the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is continuing to conduct a related investigation of other people in Nigeria.

In addition to Eta, who was also known as "Etaoko" and "Captain" among his co-conspirators, six Chicago residents named in the complaint were arrested: Babatunde Ladehinde "Junior" Labiyi, 20, Barnabus Oghenerukevwe Edjieh, 29, Sultan Omogbadebo "Ayinde" Anifowoshe, 26, Babatunde Ibraheem "AK" Akarigidi, 39, Miracle Ayokunle Okunola, 21, and Olurotimi Akitunde "Idol" Idowu, 55. Adewale Anthony Adewuni, 21, of Richardson, Texas and Olaniyi Adeleye "DonChiChi" Ogungbaiye, 26, of Lagos, Nigeria, were also charged and taken into custody in Texas and Nigeria, respectively.

Each of the nine defendants has been charged with a single count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Eta is due back in court for preliminary hearings on Dec. 27.

Full complaint in case 18-CR-818