Two Nigerians accused of defrauding school districts, organisations, and schools in Portland

In 2019, the Portland Public Schools system in Oregon received roughly $2.9 million from two Nigerian nationals who are suspected of trying to steal about $25 million from about 20 hospitals, schools, and institutions across the country.

A 11-count indictment accuses Efeturi Ariawhorai, also known as Efeturi Simeon, 35, and Ikenna Nwajiaku, 41, of conspiring to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The two are still at large. Ariawhorai was detained in Italy in November but managed to escape his home detention before being sent to Oregon. It's thought that he resides in the United Arab Emirates. Federal detectives believe that Nwajiaku resides in or close to Lagos, Nigeria.

According to district officials at the time, a fraudster posing as one of the district's construction contractors duped staff members into approving the $2.9 million payment. This resulted in the attempted theft from Portland Public Schools.

The crime was discovered while the millions were still in the con artist's bank account, and according to officials, the majority of the money was quickly transferred back to the district's Wells Fargo account.

The two defendants are accused of defrauding 20 different organisations, school districts, or hospitals out of a total of $25.2 million between August 2019 and December 2020, according to the indictment. Investigators found that 15 companies actually suffered a $6.2 million loss.

According to the indictment, further victims included hospitals in Indiana, Minnesota, and Michigan, school systems in California, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas, as well as schools and universities in Georgia, Wyoming, Idaho, Florida, and Delaware. For instance, the indictment claims that an unnamed institution in Delaware and an undisclosed school district in Texas both suffered losses of $1.8 million.

According to the FBI, Ariawhorai and Nwajiaku would write emails to businesses, pose as their workers or other professionals doing business with them, and persuade the businesses or schools to send money to bank accounts managed by third parties acting on their behalf.

Investigators say that to hide the fraud, the perpetrators registered internet domain names with slight variations in an effort to deceive the victim organisations. They also used false names, virtual private networks, and leased infrastructure.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Quinn Harrington, head of the cyber and national security unit at the Oregon U.S. Attorney's Office, federal law enforcement agents are seeking to recover money that was inadvertently sent to unidentified bank accounts.

“The level of greed it takes to steal from schools and hospitals, especially during the height of a global pandemic, is beyond disturbing,” Kieran L. Ramsey, special agent in charge of Oregon’s FBI, said in a statement.

Ramsey claimed that the loss of about $3 million to the Portland school system was among the stolen cash that the FBI was able to recover and freeze.

Authorities urged victims of online or internet-enabled crimes to contact a nearby FBI field office or submit reports online with IC3 at www.ic3.gov.