United States Attorney’s Office

Western District of Michigan

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tiffany Brown

Wednesday, January 17, 2024 Phone: (616) 808-2146
WDMI.gov | @USAO_WDMI Email: Tiffany.Brown4@usdoj.gov

U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE SEEKS TO IDENTIFY

POTENTIAL VICTIMS OF INTERNET FRAUD SCHEME
WITH LINKS TO NIGERIA

The scheme operated for years in West Michigan

and throughout the United States
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan
Mark Totten today announced that the office is seeking to identify victims of a nationwide internet
fraud scheme that operated for several years and defrauded victims of more than $2 million dollars.
A grand jury recently returned an indictment charging four individuals with conspiracy to commit
mail and wire fraud related to the fraud scheme. Those individuals are: Fatai Okunola, 37, of
Kalamazoo, Michigan; Oluwaseyi Adeola, 33, and Ijeoma Adeola, 35, of Dallas, Texas; and Cory
McDougal, 32, of Romeoville, Illinois. Oluwaseyi Adeola and Okunola also face charges related
to their naturalization or attempt to naturalize as United States’ citizens.

According to allegations in the indictment, the defendants conspired with individuals

primarily in Nigeria to defraud individuals in the United States, many that were elderly or
particularly vulnerable, through a variety of fraud schemes using interstate wire transmissions or
the mail system. The conspirators in Nigeria created false online personas to develop relationships
with their victims over the internet, through social media, by text messages or by telephone. These
relationships centered around romantic interests, offers to buy or sell goods or services, apartment
rentals, or offers to make loans or provide grant funding, among other schemes. The conspirators
sent pictures or provided other information to the victims to make their schemes appear genuine.
When the conspirators used telephone calls, they utilized voice-over-internet-protocol numbers to
make it appear as if the calls were originating within the United States near the victims. After
developing the relationships, the conspirators asked for money for a variety of reasons related to
the scheme.

Once the victim agreed, the conspirators directed the victims to send the money to the
defendants, who opened numerous bank accounts in the Western District of Michigan and other
places to receive the victims’ money. On some occasions, the defendants received the victims’
money in post office boxes maintained under alias names or through payments made payable to
“shell” businesses that the defendants created to receive fraud proceeds. The victims sent the
money to the defendants through the mail, bank-to-bank transfers, or through peer-to-peer money
transfer services like Zelle or PayPal. After the defendants received the money in their accounts,
they transferred the money to each other, to the conspirators overseas, and to their own accounts
in Nigeria. According to the indictment, defendants received more than $2 million dollars in their
accounts from the scheme between 2017 and 2022.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the investigative agencies are working to identify other
individuals, nationwide, who may have been victimized by the same fraud conspiracy. The
defendants utilized the following Post Office Boxes, emails, business names, and false personas
to carry out the scheme:
Post Office Boxes

P.O. Box 19216, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49019

P.O. Box 2115, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49003

Businesses

Shyon’s Auto
Fatjas Import & Export
Lola Adeola Jeweleries
Choices Auto
CJ’s Shoe Rejuvination

Email Addresses

Fatairemix1@gmail.com
Omololaphlex@yahoo.com
pshyon@yahoo.com
corymc1991@gmail.com

False Personas of Alleged Fraudsters

Robert Johnson
John Stevenson
Gaurav Dewan
Akarsh Sahil
Koti Constance Malia
Timothy Jacob
Amanda Lynn Contreas
Tushar Khade
Brandon Johnson
Gaurav Gupta
Gaurav Santosh
James Mason
Luciano Rossi

If you believe you are a victim in this case, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-
wdmi/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/vw-large-cases/okunola or contact Breane Warner,
Victim Assistance Specialist, at (616) 808-2064.

Federal law enforcement provides a number of tips on how to protect yourself from similar
internet or email scams, including:

1. Be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, e-mails, and mailings.

2. Never give or send any sensitive information (including your date of birth, account
numbers, or passwords), credit or debit card numbers, or money to unverified
people or businesses.
 3. Resist the pressure to act quickly. Scammers create a false sense of urgency to lure
people to immediate action.

4. If you recognize a scam attempt, immediately end all communication with the
perpetrator.

This case is being investigated by the Grand Rapids offices of the Department of Homeland
Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Ron Stella is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The charges in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent
until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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