Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Over ₦1bn U.S. Romance, Celebrity Scam

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Over ₦1bn U.S. Romance, Celebrity Scam

The Nigeria Police Force, Airport Police Command, has arrested a 20-year-old suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, for allegedly defrauding multiple victims in the United States of over ₦1 billion in an international romance and celebrity scam.

Akpama was arrested on January 5, 2026, by operatives of the command’s Anti-Fraud Unit while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State, following months of intelligence-led surveillance aimed at preventing suspects from using Nigerian airports as escape routes.

In a statement, the command’s spokesperson, Mohammed Adeola, said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, who previously lived in Calabar, Cross River State, relocated to Lagos on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated several fraudulent schemes targeting foreign victims.

Police alleged that in one instance in 2024, Akpama defrauded a 47-year-old American woman of $1 million under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage. The funds were reportedly obtained through a cryptocurrency scam identified as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly known as “4 Way Mirror Money.”

Further investigations showed that the suspect also allegedly swindled another victim, a 70-year-old American woman, of ₦25,709,400 (approximately $18,000) through the purchase of gift cards, mobile phones, and computer equipment, which were shipped to Nigeria at his instruction.

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Items recovered from the suspect include a MacBook Pro (14-inch), an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, with a total estimated value of ₦8,141,367.

Police said Akpama allegedly posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were required for secure communication.

The Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, Ogunbode Olufunke, reaffirmed the command’s commitment to tackling transnational crimes and preventing the exploitation of Nigeria’s aviation corridors by criminal networks. She said intelligence-driven operations would continue to be deployed to dismantle fraud syndicates operating within the airport environment.

The case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation, while the suspect is expected to be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of investigations.

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Over ₦1bn U.S. Romance, Celebrity Scam