Nigerian man poses as fan salesman and scams $30m

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The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation says a Nigerian, Chidozie Collins Obasi, is looking for fraud over $30 million.

The FBI says Obasi has been charged and wanted with defrauding New York State of more than $30 million by posing as a ventilator salesman during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic .

In addition to impersonating a fan salesman, the FBI said the suspect was targeting Americans through a spam campaign offering illegitimate "work from home" jobs

The security agency said 29-year-old Obasi carried out the fraud from Nigeria, with the help of accomplices in Canada and elsewhere.

In a statement from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said the suspect was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and by wire, six counts of mail fraud and 16 counts of wire fraud.

The statement released on Friday reads: "The defendant and his co-conspirators allegedly obtained over $31,000,000 through this multifaceted fraud scheme, the overwhelming majority of this money - over $30 million dollars - from New York State for the planned purchase of ventilators.

"The scheme alleged in the indictment began in September 2018, with a spam campaign offering fake 'work from home' jobs. When someone responded to the fake job posting, Obasi or a co-conspirator impersonated a representative of a legitimate company, often a supposed medical equipment supplier based outside the United States, and offered the person a job as a US representative of the company with responsibilities, including the collection of unpaid invoices.

"A co-conspirator in Canada then sent the new 'employee' allegedly forged checks from clients of the company, and the new 'employee' deposited the checks, took a commission, and wired the rest of the money to a foreign bank account apparently held by the bogus company. As alleged in the indictment, Obasi and his co-conspirators obtained over $1 million in this manner.

“The indictment further alleges that around March 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States and ventilators were in high demand, Obasi impersonated for a representative of an Indonesia-based medical supply company offering ventilators for sale, and claimed to have a large inventory of ventilators manufactured by a German company headquartered in Telford, Pa. The defendant allegedly convinced a broker in equipment in the United States to negotiate sales of these non-existent ventilators and ultimately allegedly tricked New York State into transferring more than $30 million to purchase ventilators that did not exist. target other potential customers with this same scam, including hospitals.

"Later, circa June 2020, the indictment alleges that Obasi and his co-conspirators took advantage of the EID loan program by using stolen identities of U.S. citizens to request and obtain over $135,000 of EID loan product.

"Obasi is currently a fugitive, and the United States is seeking to locate and arrest him. Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts should contact his local FBI office.

"If arrested and convicted, Obasi faces a maximum sentence of 621 years in prison, a five-year supervised release period and a fine of $5,750,000. Obasi will also be required to make full restitution of most of $31,000,000 which he obtained by fraud.

"The case has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. Lowe."