The United States has indicted two Nigerians—Shodiya Babatunde and Jamui Ahmed—for their alleged roles in a fraudulent business email scheme that defrauded healthcare companies of over $13 million.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota on Thursday, Babatunde and Ahmed fraudulently redirected more than $13 million in payments intended for Fairview Health to accounts they controlled, along with their co-conspirators.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger revealed that the pair, aged 43 and 31 respectively, targeted and deceived unsuspecting employees at several Minnesota-based healthcare firms into making payments to their bank accounts.
Court documents indicate that Babatunde, Ahmed, and their accomplices initiated these fraudulent activities between October 2020 and 2024. Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they have since become fugitives.
“As part of their scheme, Babatunde and Ahmed created a fake ‘spoofed’ internet domain designed to mimic Fairview Health,” the release stated.
They also established fraudulent email accounts that appeared to belong to Fairview Health executives, including the CEO, executive vice president and general counsel, and a business analyst.
“Using these counterfeit emails, Babatunde and Ahmed executed a ‘phishing’ scheme to fraudulently obtain names, passwords, and access to payment accounts,” the statement noted.
The defendants further used their fraudulent accounts to email other Minnesota-based health insurance companies, proposing new accounts for payments intended for Fairview Health.
The statement clarified, “Unbeknownst to the vendor companies, these new accounts were controlled by Babatunde, Ahmed, and their co-conspirators, not Fairview Health.”
In total, Babatunde and Ahmed fraudulently siphoned more than $13 million in payments intended for Fairview Health to accounts they controlled.
Babatunde and Ahmed are citizens and residents of Nigeria, and they remain fugitives from justice.
