By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the trial of alleged internet fraudster, Raymond Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, the man who is said to have conned at least two million people.
According to a statement from the trial judge, Judge Otis Wright, Hushpuppi’s trial would resume by 9:00 a.m. on May 4, 2021.
Until his arrest, Hushpuppi had been living in Dubai flamboyantly.
According to details of a Dubai secret police operation on Hushpuppi, they tracked his fraudulent activities by monitoring his social media postings where he regularly boast of his wealth.
“Little did he know that Dubai E-Police team where tracking his every move and taking note of all his social media activities,” the Police revealed.
According to the police report, Hushpuppi and his team where known for creating fake pages for existing websites in order to redirect victims’ payment to their own account.
“They specialize in hacking corporate emails and sending fake messages to clients in order to redirect money transfers and people’s bank details to their own account,” the police report reveals.
The Dubia police operation tagged ‘Operation Fox hunt, reveals that Hushpuppi and his team were responsible for scams worth 1.6 billion Dirhams (N169 billion),
Items worth 150 million Dirhams (N15 billion) were recovered from him and his team, plus 21 laptops, 47smartphones, 15 storage memory devices and five hard discs containing data.
The 37-year-old is facing four-count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracies, international money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
