The police in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have seized Dh150m — N16bn — in cash and more than a dozen luxury cars from Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Raymond Abbas known as Hushpuppi.
In a video shared by the police, officers explained how they arrested Hushpuppi and his gangs, who are accused of Internet scam.
Hushpuppi’s principal scam was to create websites that looked identical to well-known companies and banks, it was alleged.
A total of 1,926,400 victims were said to have been targeted by the syndicate in a scheme that spanned several months.
13 luxury cars estimated to be worth over 25 million dirhams — N2.6bn — were also seized from the gang.
Police said email addresses of 800,000 potential victims were discovered and that the gang could have scammed as much as Dh1.6 billion from victims.
Officers dubbed the operation Fox Hunt 2 after busting an African cyber crime gang running a similar scam in February 2019, in which Dh32 million — $8.7m — was stolen from victims.
Hushpuppi posed as a real estate investor and businessman and boasts of more than two million followers on Instagram.
