The Nigeria Police Force, Airport Police Command, has arrested a 20-year-old suspected celebrity scam and romance fraudster accused of defrauding multiple victims in the United States of over ₦1 billion.
The suspect, identified as Essien Emmanuel Akpama, was arrested on January 5, 2026, by operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit of the Airport Police Command while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.
According to a statement by the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Adeola, Akpama’s arrest followed months of intelligence-led surveillance based on credible information linking him to transnational fraud activities.
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 and executed several fraudulent schemes targeting foreign victims.
In one case in 2024, police said Akpama used a celebrity scam strategy to deceive a 47-year-old woman in the United States into transferring $1 million—over ₦1 billion—under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage. The funds were reportedly solicited through a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly called “4 Way Mirror Money.”
Further investigations showed that the suspect also defrauded a 70-year-old American woman of ₦25,709,400, equivalent to $18,000, through the purchase of gift cards, high-end mobile phones, and computer equipment, which were shipped to Nigeria at his instruction.
Items recovered in connection with the case include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, valued at ₦8,141,367. Police said the suspect posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were needed for secure communication.
The Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, Mnips, PhD, reiterated the Command’s determination to stop criminal elements from using Nigerian airports as escape routes and vowed to intensify intelligence-driven operations within the aviation environment.
The case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit for further investigation, and the suspect will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of investigations.