The Airport Police Command in Lagos has arrested a 20 year old man, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, over his alleged involvement in a large scale romance fraud scheme that reportedly defrauded several victims in the United States of more than N1 billion.
The arrest was confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, ASP Mohammed Adeola.
According to the statement, Akpama was apprehended on January 5, 2026, by operatives of the Anti Fraud Unit while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos following months of intelligence led surveillance.
The police said the suspect is believed to be a key figure in a celebrity romance fraud network that targeted victims abroad and exploited digital platforms to carry out the scheme.
Investigations revealed that Akpama relocated from Calabar in Cross River State to Lagos on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated multiple fraudulent operations.
One of the cases involved a 47 year old woman in the United States who was reportedly deceived into transferring one million dollars under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage.
Police sources disclosed that the funds were solicited through a cryptocurrency investment scheme known as BullRun 2.0, previously called 4 Way Mirror Money.
Further investigations showed that the suspect also allegedly defrauded a 70 year old woman in the United States of N25,709,400, equivalent to about 18,000 dollars, through the purchase of gift cards, high end mobile phones, and computer equipment that were shipped to Nigeria on his instructions.
Items recovered from the suspect include a MacBook Pro 14 inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, with a combined estimated value of N8,141,367.
The police said Akpama posed as a 60 year old orthopaedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria in order to convince victims that the devices were required for secure communication.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, reiterated the importance of intelligence driven policing in tackling transnational crime, stressing that the command would continue to disrupt criminal networks operating within the aviation environment.
The case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit for further investigation, while the suspect is expected to be arraigned in court upon completion of the inquiry.
