Fact-Check: Hushpuppi and the Alleged $400,000 Internet Fraud
News making round in the early hours of the day by some Nigeria media houses, that fresh charges have been slammed on infamous internet fraudster Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas by United States prosecutors, accusing him of committing fraud and laundering over $400,000 while in prison.
According to several reports, Wednesday, March 17, It was learnt that the US prosecutors presented documents before the U.S. District Court of California with fresh evidence indicating Mr Abbas committed fraud and money laundering at the U.S Federal correctional facility.
The documents said Mr Abass was involved in the purchase and laundering of Economic Impact Payment debit cards obtained from stolen data of U.S. citizens and residents.
Report further stated that, ‘inmates’ are allowed access to phone calls, video calls, the internet, exempt from being monitored to protect their rights to privacy.
It was understood that between January 28 and March 4, security officers at the correctional facility observed that Mr Abbas had gone beyond allowed internet use.
In light of the internet-based crimes Mr Abbas was tried for, a warrant to record his activities was obtained and his activities were recorded for a week.
It was found that Mr Abbas had purchased 58 EIP debit cards from an underground cybercriminal marketplace StimulusCard, worth $429,800.
The Economic Impact Payments are financial support offered by the U.S. government to U.S residents according to the CARES Act.
Mr Abass, whose sentencing was postponed to July, pleaded guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud charges as part of a plea bargain he entered with the U.S. authorities.
The 37-year-old had been arrested in Dubai in June 2020 and extradited to the U.S. where he has been facing charges of corruption in Central California, the report stated.
According to a Nigerian investigative Journalist, Dr. Kemi Olunloyo, in a post obtained by our correspondent, she rubuffed the earlier allegation of fresh charges against Ramon Hushpuppi, said she had contacted the US Attorney’s office.
The post read; #BREAKING I have spoken to the
@USAttorneys
office & my sources at the FBI. Shame on fact checking with the Nigerian mediaAs I said on #Drkemispaces Hushpuppi is with
@USMarshalsHQ
and NOT in any prison. He will be there once sentenced. The document filed is FAKE and edited.
The edited document had
@FBI
Andrew Innocenti and Judge Oliver’s signatures on them. This was inserted from an old 2020 filing not related to Ramon Abass. Hushpuppi has NOT committed any fraud online from any location. This is the work of fraudsters and media syndicates.
It’s the duty of Nigerian media outlets to do their fact checking, instead they all ran the story while I was making expensive phone calls all day. It’s likely the work of fraudsters trying to get traffic for their Stimulus card phishing site to steal personal info.