A 32-year-old Nigerian, Olamide Shanu, is facing allegations of a blackmail scandal, as reported by the United States Secret Service. In connection with the dubious scheme, his Binance account has been seized, and accused of being employed in the laundering of funds.
As per court documents acquired by the Nigerian publication, Peoples Gazette, Shanu is confronting 13 charges in the United States. His purported actions involve coercing a minor in the United States to transfer funds to him after deceitfully obtaining explicit images.
The charges against Shanu encompass conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit extortion, interstate communication with intent to commit extortion, as well as fraud and money laundering forfeiture, necessitating the surrender of fraudulently acquired assets to the United States government.
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Allegations of Blackmail Scandal Emerge Against the Nigerian Fraud Suspect
Shanu allegedly created a fraudulent Snapchat profile to engage in transactions involving explicit images with the victim.
Subsequently, he would threaten the victim, demanding funds to prevent the dissemination of the compromising pictures online. Reportedly, Shanu succeeded in obtaining $1000 through false identity and pretense.
Upon reporting the incident to his mother, who then alerted the authorities, the victim blocked Shanu’s fake account. However, Shanu persisted by adding the victim with another fraudulent account, prolonging the blackmail.
Ultimately, investigators managed to trace the IP addresses of Shanu’s two fake Snapchat accounts to the same location in Lagos, Nigeria.
Further investigations revealed that Shanu had defrauded other underage victims, amassing $1500. He allegedly used the victim’s Venmo account to receive illicit proceeds, with payments from this account directed to a crypto wallet associated with Shanu.
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Unveiling Olamide Shanu’s Identification via Binance Account
Binance, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange with a Know-Your-Customer (KYC) feature, played a pivotal role in identifying Shanu. Through legal means, the United States Secret Service obtained KYC information, linking Shanu’s Nigerian passport and olamideshanu011@gmail.com as the email address to his Binance account.
The IP address used to access the Binance account was consistent with the one linked to Shanu’s Snapchat profiles, solidifying the connection between both accounts and reinforcing the allegations against him.
Investigations unveiled that Shanu’s Binance account, which had a 0 BTC balance during the trial, received over 84.66478598 Bitcoin (approximately $2.6 million) and withdrew around $2.5 million in Bitcoin over three years. A warrant for Shanu’s Gmail account revealed matching photographs to those on his Google account and passport associated with the Binance account.
