Lagos Police Arrests 20-Year-Old Suspected Scammer at Airport For Defrauding U.S. Victims of Over N1 Billion
By: Israel Adeleke
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports as gathered that the Airport Police Command in Lagos has arrested a 20-year-old suspect, identified as Essien Emmanuel Akpama, who involved in a romance and celebrity fraud that allegedly defrauded victims in the United States of over N1 billion.
OTN News further reports as gathered that the force command disclosed this in a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, APC Mohammed Adeola, on Tuesday, 6th January 2026.
According to the statement, the suspect, was apprehended while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.
The statement explained that, the arrest followed months of intelligence-led surveillance and monitoring based on credible information.
Furthermore, the statement added that, preliminary investigations revealed that Akpama, who previously resided in Calabar, relocated to Lagos on 23rd February 2024, from where he allegedly coordinated and executed several fraudulent schemes.
The statement read in part, “the Nigeria Police Force, Airport Police Command, in its sustained efforts to combat transnational crimes and prevent the use of Nigerian airports as escape routes for criminal elements, has arrested a notorious celebrity scam and romance fraud suspect responsible for defrauding multiple victims in the United States of America of over N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira), which on conversion amounts to over one million United States dollars.
“The suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, male, aged 20, was arrested on 5th January, 2026, by operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit of the Airport Police Command while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.
Akpama reportedly deceived a 47-year-old female victim in the U.S. into transferring one million U.S. dollars under the pretext of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage, using a cryptocurrency scheme called “BullRun 2.0,” formerly “4 Way Mirror Money.”
In another instance, he allegedly defrauded a 70-year-old U.S. victim of N25,709,400 (about $18,000) through purchases of gift cards, high-end mobile devices, and computer equipment, which were shipped to Nigeria at his direction.
Items recovered in connection with the case include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and three Google Pixel devices, collectively valued at N8,141,367.
The suspect posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were necessary for secure communications with his victims.
The statement, however, added that, the case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation, and the suspect will be arraigned in court upon completion of the investigations.
The Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to preventing criminal elements from exploiting airport corridors to evade justice.
She emphasized that intelligence-driven operations would continue to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminalck networks operating within Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.
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