[Infowarrior] - Nigerian Accused in Scheme to Swindle Citibank

[Richard Forno]

Nigerian Accused in Scheme to Swindle Citibank
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/nyregion/21scam.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: February 20, 2009

Swindles in which someone overseas seeks access to a person’s bank  
account are so well known that most potential victims can spot them in  
seconds.

But one man found success by tweaking the formula, prosecutors say:  
Rather than trying to dupe an account holder into giving up  
information, he duped the bank. And instead of swindling a person, he  
tried to rob a country — of $27 million.

To carry out the elaborate scheme, prosecutors in New York said on  
Friday, the man, identified as Paul Gabriel Amos, 37, a Nigerian  
citizen who lived in Singapore, worked with others to create official- 
looking documents that instructed Citibank to wire the money in two  
dozen transactions to accounts that Mr. Amos and the others controlled  
around the world.

The money came from a Citibank account in New York held by the  
National Bank of Ethiopia, that country’s central bank. Prosecutors  
said the conspirators, contacted by Citibank to verify the  
transactions, posed as Ethiopian bank officials and approved the  
transfers.

Mr. Amos was arrested last month as he tried to enter the United  
States through Los Angeles, a prosecutor, Marcus A. Asner, said in  
Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Amos, who was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank  
and wire fraud, told a federal magistrate judge, “I’m not guilty,  
sir.” The judge, Andrew J. Peck, ordered him detained pending a  
further hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison,  
prosecutors said.

The fraud was uncovered after several banks where the conspirators  
held accounts returned money to Citibank, saying they had been unable  
to process the transactions, and an official of the National Bank of  
Ethiopia said that it did not recognize the transactions, according to  
a complaint signed by an F.B.I. agent, Bryan Trebelhorn.

A Citigroup spokeswoman said: “We have worked closely with law  
enforcement throughout the investigation and are pleased it has  
resulted in this arrest. Citi constantly reviews and upgrades its  
physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to detect, prevent and  
mitigate theft.”

A spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington said, “We are  
aware of this unfortunate story.” He said the embassy was not involved  
in the legal proceedings, and declined further comment. Officials at  
the National Bank of Ethiopia could not be reached by phone for comment.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in September, when Citibank received  
a package with documents purportedly signed by officials of the  
Ethiopian bank instructing Citibank to accept instructions by fax.  
There was also a list of officials who could be called to confirm such  
requests. The signatures of the officials appeared to match those in  
Citibank’s records and were accepted by Citibank, the complaint says.

In October, Citibank received two dozen faxed requests for money to be  
wired, and it transferred $27 million to accounts controlled by the  
conspirators in Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus and the  
United States, the complaint says.

Citibank called the officials whose names and numbers it had been  
given to verify the transactions, prosecutors said. The numbers turned  
out to be for cellphones in Nigeria, South Africa and Britain used by  
the conspirators.

Citibank, in its investigation, later determined the package of  
documents had come via courier from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from  
the offices of the National Bank of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.

Citibank has credited back the lost funds to the National Bank of  
Ethiopia, said one person who was briefed about the situation.