According to a press statement released by the FBI’s New York field office, the Nigerian New Yorker, Kelechi Declan James, 32, ran an online scheme with four co-conspirators that tricked victims into wiring money to bank accounts the victims believed were owned by family members.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has declared a Nigerian national living in New York wanted for defrauding victims of over $5 million.
According to a press statement released by the FBI’s New York field office, the Nigerian New Yorker, Kelechi Declan James, 32, ran an online scheme with four co-conspirators that tricked victims into wiring money to bank accounts the victims believed were owned by family members.
They did this primarily by taking over email accounts of victims’ family members and then requesting that money be wired to their bank accounts.
In other cases, the fraudsters developed “relationships of trust” with the victims before asking for money.
The bureau said the suspect frequents the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush and East Flatbush. Mr. James is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 175 pounds, the statement said.
The FBI is offering a meager $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
