The United States authorities have captured a wanted Nigerian Yahoo Boy, Adetunji Abudu, six years after he fled America to escape trial over his alleged involvement in fraud.
The 34-year-old Lagos indigene was taken into custody on Monday at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, as he attempted to re-enter the United States from Istanbul, Turkey, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday.
Mr Abudu fled the United States to Nigeria in 2019 after the FBI executed a court-authorised search of his residence in North Providence, the DoJ said.
After his arrest, Mr Abudu appeared in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island and was ordered detained pending trial on October 21, 2026.
Mr Abudu is one of six defendants charged in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Providence, alleging that the individuals laundered millions of dollars obtained through a series of fraud schemes operated from Nigeria that primarily targeted elderly U.S. residents.
According to the indictment, victims were allegedly deceived through online romance scams, fraudulent sweepstakes schemes, false rental listings and sham online shipping transactions.
Funds collected from victims were allegedly funnelled through bank accounts and businesses in Rhode Island, Idaho and elsewhere, with significant proceeds ultimately sent to Nigeria.
Before now, five of Mr Abudu’s co-defendants, Dotun Olawale Alonge, Oluwaseyi Akintola, Samson Ikotun, Olabode Shaba and Oladipup Shodipupo, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and received sentences ranging from time served to 42 months’ imprisonment.
