AML/CFT : fraudster bought airline tickets in false names
A Nigerian living in Ghana sat in a cyber cafe and conducted his travel agency, buying and reselling airline tickets in the USA. But his successful business was based on a complex series of frauds.
Ademola Ismaila Adegoke, 43, bought stolen credit card data from internet-based information brokers which he found on forum websites. He bought a total of more than 5,000 named and numbers.
Then, using a VoIP service so as to fake the origin of his calls as being within the USA, he called travel agents who did not offer an on-line clearing service.
Using a graphics programme, he used scans of real bank cards and applied fake names and numbers on them. And he use fake copies of passports to facilitate verification and issue of the tickets.
Having obtained e-tickets, he would then sell the tickets at a deep discount with passengers making name changes.
His scheme involved tickets at face value of USD400,000.
But someone in the USA worked out what was happening. An investigation in the USA gained pace because of the threat that the tickets may be used to disguise the identity of travellers along with the related security risk. A request for his arrest was executed in Ghana in May, he was extradited in June, pleaded guilty in July but was sentenced this week.
Sentenced to eight and a half years in jail, Adegoke was also ordered to repay USD696,026 and to serve two years' probation on release.
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