Nigeria’s Tobechi Tops FBI’s Wanted List

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

By Seyi Oduyela

Published: February 28, 2010

Nigeria’s Tobechi Tops  FBI’s Wanted List

Seyi Oduyela/Washington, DC

Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara, a convicted felon, is wanted for his alleged involvement in an elaborate scheme that defrauded the financial industry out of tens of millions of dollars. Onwuhara is a key member of a group of Nigerians who allegedly have been conducting fraudulent banking activities from Florida and Texas, since 2005. It is alleged that the group has been using online Internet databases to steal victims’ identities. Once acquired, they allegedly use the victims’ information to gain access to the victims’ Home Equity Line of Credit accounts and wire transfer the money to accounts mainly located overseas, some in the United States.

Some of Onwuhara’s alleged co-conspirators have been arrested, inside and outside of the United States; however, Onwuhara remains at large. Onwuhara was charged federally with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, on August 1, 2008.

Henry “Uche” Obilo, age 30, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 88 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role as a leader in a home equity line of credit fraud scheme that has been linked to more than $36 million in attempted fraud and almost $11 million in actual losses. To date, investigators have identified more than 180 victims. Obilo was ordered to pay restitution of $577,149.33.  Obilo is currently serving at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Fort Dix, New Jersey, is a low security facility housing male inmates.

According to court records, Obilo and other co-conspirators used fee-based web databases to search for potential victim account holders with large balances in home equity line of credit (HELOC) accounts. This information included name, address, date of birth, and social security number. Once the conspirators identified a victim, they used other online databases to obtain information commonly used in security questions, such as the victim’s mother’s maiden name. The conspirators then obtained credit reports on the victims in order to verify personal information and account balances.

Armed with a victim’s personal information, the conspirators, including Obilo and Gipson, called the victim’s financial institution, impersonated the victim, and transferred the majority of the available money from the HELOC account into an account from which a wire transfer could be sent. The conspirators would then wire transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to domestic or overseas accounts controlled by members of the conspiracy. The conspirators used caller-ID spoofing services, prepaid cell phones and PC wireless Internet access cards, and transferred victims’ home telephone numbers in order to impersonate the victim and avoid identifying themselves.

Once the fraudulently-transferred funds arrived in the destination bank, a conspirator with access to the account would withdraw funds and transfer them to other members of the conspiracy after taking a portion of the proceeds for himself.

The following seven conspirators have also been sentenced in this case:

• Abel Nnabue, age 34, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 54 months on Jan. 30, 2009. Abel is currently serving his jail term at Texarkana, Texas. The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Texarkana is a low security facility housing male inmates.
• Precious Matthews, age 27, of Miami, who was sentenced 51 months on Feb. 13, 2009. She is serving her term at the FPC Alderson is a minimum security facility housing female offenders in West Virginia.
• Brandy Anderson, age 31, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 2 years of supervised probation and 40 days of community confinement on Feb. 20, 2009.
• Ezenwa Onyedebelu, age 21, of Dallas, who was sentenced to 37 months on Feb. 27, 2009. Ezenwa is currently serving his jail term at Texarkana, Texas. The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Texarkana is a low security facility housing male inmates.
• Daniel Orjinta, age 43, of Nigeria, who was sentenced to 42 months on March 6, 2009. Daniel is currently serving his jail term at the Correctional Institution in Youngstown, Ohio.
• Paula Gipson, age 34, of Dallas, Texas, who was sentenced to 15 months on Sept. 4, 2009. Paula is serving her term at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan, Texas, is a minimum security facility that houses female inmates.

 Email This Post