Financial Fraud: Segun Prosper Otaru Indicted For Defrauded Their Victims Through Various Internet Scams

<h2>Nigerian National Indicted for Internet Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>SPRINGFIELD&comma; Mo&period; – A Nigerian national in St&period; Robert&comma; Mo&period;&comma; has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his role in a conspiracy that used various internet scams to defraud victims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Segun Prosper Otaru&comma; 26&comma; was charged in a 12-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield&comma; Mo&period;&comma; on Wednesday&comma; Nov&period; 7&comma; 2018&period; Otaru is a Nigerian citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The federal indictment alleges that Otaru participated in wire fraud conspiracy that lasted from 2015 to Oct&period; 9&comma; 2018&comma; in Greene and Pulaski Counties&period; Conspirators defrauded their victims through various scams&comma; according to the indictment&comma; including posting internet advertisements on sites such as Craigslist&period;com&comma; for goods&comma; services and rental accommodations&period; Conspirators allegedly sought to induce individuals who responded to the advertisements to pay for the goods and services&comma; which they had no intention to provide&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For instance&comma; the indictment says&comma; conspirators used existing pictures and descriptions of properties from legitimate websites to create fraudulent Craigslist postings under properties for rent&period; When victims responded to the advertisement&comma; conspirators instructed them to send a deposit in order to hold the property&comma; typically through a money service business such as MoneyGram or Western Union&comma; to an account controlled by the conspirators&comma; including accounts established and maintained by Otaru in Springfield&comma; Mo&period;&comma; and Waynesville&comma; Mo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Conspirators allegedly defrauded business wholesalers by tricking them into wiring funds into accounts they controlled as purported &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;shipping fees” for merchandise they purchased using stolen credit card numbers&period; After using a stolen credit card number to purchase items from the victim businesses&comma; the indictment says&comma; conspirators told the victim the merchandise needed to be shipped to a foreign country&period; Conspirators insisted on using their own shipper&comma; instructed victims to charge the full amounts for the merchandise plus shipping fees to the stolen credit card numbers&comma; and instructed victims to send the shipping fees to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;their shipper” at the provided bank account maintained by the conspirators&comma; including Otaru’s accounts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the indictment&comma; Otaru also participated in a scheme to submit false and fraudulent federal income tax returns in order to receive refunds&period; Conspirators used stolen identities to file returns that listed false employers&comma; wages&comma; and employment taxes paid&period; At least 167 false and fraudulent federal income tax returns were designated for deposit to seven different bank accounts controlled by Otaru and another person&period; These 167 federal tax returns requested refunds totaling approximately &dollar;644&comma;280&period; They actually received at least &dollar;24&comma;356 in fraudulently-obtained tax refunds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In furtherance of the schemes and conspiracy&comma; Otaru and his co-conspirators opened and maintained a series of bank accounts&period; Some of Otaru’s accounts were in his name and some were in the names of various aliases&period; In order to open bank accounts using false names&comma; Otaru obtained from his co-conspirators false identification documents&comma; usually counterfeit passports and drivers’ licenses&comma; purportedly issued by nations in Africa&comma; such as Nigeria&comma; Gambia&comma; Ghana&comma; Liberia&comma; Sierra Leone&comma; and South Africa&period; The false passports contained forged and counterfeit United States visas&comma; as false evidence of the bearer’s evidence of authorized stay and employment in the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In April 2017&comma; the indictment says&comma; U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection seized a package sent to Otaru from Nigeria that was manifested as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;local body scrub&period;” In addition to a container of soap&comma; the package contained four counterfeit passports &lpar;purportedly issued by Nigeria&comma; Ghana&comma; Liberia&comma; and Sierra Leone&rpar; with four corresponding foreign driver’s licenses&period; All documents displayed Otaru’s picture but bore different names&period; All documents were fraudulent&comma; and the passports further contained counterfeit United States visas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In August 2017&comma; the indictment says&comma; U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection seized a package sent to Otaru from Nigeria that was manifested as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;native suite and sandals&period;” Hidden in the soles of the sandals were four counterfeit passports &lpar;purportedly issued by Nigeria&comma; Gambia&comma; South Africa&comma; and Liberia&rpar; with four corresponding foreign driver’s licenses&period; All documents displayed Otaru’s picture&comma; but bore different names&period; All documents were fraudulent&comma; and the passports further contained counterfeit United States visas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Otaru allegedly also possessed a fraudulent Kenyan passport and two fraudulent Nigerian passports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Otaru kept some of the funds obtained from the alleged schemes for his own use&period; He transferred some of the funds to co-conspirators in the United States and in other countries&period; He sometime used the funds to purchase vehicles for export to co-conspirators in Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to the conspiracy&comma; the indictment charges Otaru with four counts of wire fraud&comma; four counts of bank fraud&comma; one count of theft of public money&comma; and two counts of fraud and misuse of visas&comma; permits and other documents&period; The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation&comma; which would require Otaru to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged conspiracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations&comma; and not evidence of guilt&period; Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury&comma; whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Steven M&period; Mohlhenrich&period; It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s &lpar;ICE&rpar; Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;HSI&rpar;&comma; ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations&comma; and IRS-Criminal Investigation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-wdmo&sol;pr&sol;nigerian-national-indicted-internet-fraud-scheme">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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