Dubai Police Confirms the Arrest of Hushpuppi, Woodberry and 10 Other Africans

It is no news that Dubai Police arrested Raymond Igbalode Abbas, also known as “Hushpuppi” and for committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft.

Dubai Police has confirmed that the Dubai Police have recently arrested Raymond Igbalode Abbas, also known as “Hushpuppi” and Olalekan Jacob Ponle aka “Woodberry” along with ten African cybercriminals in a special operation dubbed “Fox Hunt 2”, GulfToday Arab Emitates reported.

Lt. General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, the Commander-in-chief of Dubai Police, said the arrest of ‘Hushpuppi’, ‘Woodberry’ and ten gang members involved in money laundry and cyber fraud activities, is another achievement added to the proud record of Dubai police in ensuring the emirate’s security and safety as well as preserving people’s money and property.

Revealing the operation’s details, Brigadier Jamal Salem Al Jallaf, Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Dubai Police, said that upon receiving the security intel about an African gang involved in money-laundering and cyber fraud, an investigation team was formed to track down the suspects, make the arrest and put an end to the gang’s illegal activities that have been badly affecting individuals and companies overseas and targeting their bank accounts and credit cards.

“After verifying available information, the team has started to track the gang including “Hushpuppi”, who celebrated his wealth via social media platform, under a businessman façade, in an attempt to lure victims from all over the world,” Al Jallaf said.

Al Jallaf said the anti-cybercrime task force was able to track the gang members and detect their criminal activities including creating fake accounts on social media website with fake nicknames, hacking corporate emails to deceive clients into making money transfers to the gang’s bank accounts.

“The suspects also targeted victims overseas by creating fake websites for well-known companies and banks in a bid to steal victims’ credit card information and then launder the stolen money,” Al Jallaf continued.

The director of Dubai CID said the raid resulted in confiscating incriminating documents of a planned fraud on a global scale worth AED 1.6 billion ($ 435 million).

“The team also seized more than Dhs150 million ($40.9 million) in cash, 13 luxury cars with an estimated value of Dhs25 million ($6.8 million) obtained from fraud crimes, and confiscated 21 computer devices, 47 smartphones, 15 memory sticks, five hard disks containing 119,580 fraud files as well as addresses of 1,926,400 victims”, he said.

After conducting further investigations and analysing confiscated electronic devices, Dubai Police investigators uncovered sensitive information mined by the suspects on individuals and companies overseas including bank accounts and fake credit cards as well as documents and files condemning the gangs’ illegal activities.