U.S. Secret Service indicts Lagos-based Yahoo Boy; confiscates Binance account over $2.5 million as proceeds of blackmailing teenagers, others

The United States Secret Service has taken over the Binance account of 32-year-old male of Nigerian descent, Olamide Shanu, after tracing his account to a $2.5 million wire fra¥d, money laundering and sextortion scheme, Peoples Gazette is reporting.

The allegations mounted against Mr Shanu and the manner the fraud scheme was perpetrated mirrored the operation of internet fraudsters in Nigeria known as Yahoo boys.

Scouting social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat for male teenagers and unsuspecting adults to defraud d, Mr Shanu posed as a female to obtain the explicit images and videos of his victims after forming a deceptive intimate relationship with them.

He then threatened ned to send the n+des to their friends should they refuse to send the requested sum and more sexual videos. “Hello Fams this is [(CC-3)] n+ked pictures and d**k he’s [(CC-3’s Username)] on Instagram,” the indictment sheet against Mr Shanu filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho and stamped by clerk Stephen Kenyon on November 14 read.

“We, he tried to h¥rt me so I’m spreading his n+d£s rn to make him feel ashamed. All I want you guys to share this (sic) pictures all over the world till it goes viral and get to all his friends and family, that’s all,” reads a screenshot Shanu sent to s+xtort a victim on April 3 while attaching the victim’s name, age and address.

The Binance account received over 84.66478598 BTC approximately $2.6 million and $2.5 million withdrawn in Bitcoin over a period of three years, investigations showed. Current balance stood at 0 BTC as of the time investigators seized the account.