Nigerian ‘tech queen’ and Ghanaian accomplice nabbed by FBI over multi-million-dollar ‘sakawa’
A Ghanaian man believed to be the leader of a fraud syndicate in the United States of America (USA), Samuel Kwadwo Osei, has been arrested by the FBI, together with a number of accomplices, including a computer programmer regarded as the ‘tech queen’ of Nigeria, Sapphire Egemasi.
According to several reports by Nigerian media outlets, including Peoples Gazette and the Daily Post, the suspects, who are currently in the custody of the FBI, were arrested on April 10, 2025, for defrauding several US government agencies of millions of dollars.
They are accused of engaging in internet fraud and money laundering between September 2021 and February 2023.
They allegedly targeted agencies across the US, including the city government of Kentucky, using phishing campaigns and spoofed websites to steal employee credentials and reroute public funds into fraudulent bank accounts.
The reports indicated that, aside from Egemasi, all the other accomplices were Ghanaians.
Court documents, cited in the reports, showed that the gang stole millions of dollars from the city of Kentucky, with “Egemasi’s role being the registering and designing of spoof websites of US government institutions to steal login credentials.”
She also created fake websites mimicking legitimate portals of US government agencies.
The suspected fraudsters reportedly once rerouted $965,000 in stolen funds from the city of Kentucky to a PNC Bank account in August 2022, according to retrieved text messages.
They also diverted $330,000, stolen from the city, into an account at Bank of America.
The report indicated that the suspects are awaiting trial in Lexington, Kentucky in the USA.
They face a prison term of up to 20 years each, fines, and deportation back to Ghana and Nigeria upon completion of their sentences.
The Nigerian woman is believed to have met her Ghanaian co-accused in Nigeria.
She is the tech expert for the fraud syndicate, which operates from both the US and the West African country.
