US Jails Nigerian Man Over Failed Alaska Dividend Fraud Plot

Adepoju Babatunde Salako, a Nigerian based in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States after pleading guilty to wire fraud involving a 2022 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend scam.

According to court filings, Salako stole personal information belonging to several Alaska residents and used it to submit seven fake applications for dividend payments between January and February 2022.

He reportedly created email accounts in the victims’ identities and accessed their “myAlaska” profiles, where he altered banking and contact details to redirect funds to accounts under his control.

Investigators said he used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to conceal his location and make the applications appear as though they originated from Alaska, although digital records later linked some activity to Philadelphia.

The Alaska Department of Revenue uncovered the scheme and blocked all applications before any payments were made, preventing an estimated loss of about $23,000.

Salako pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud. His sentence will run alongside a separate six-and-a-half-year prison term in Colorado for COVID-19 relief fraud and international money laundering involving $2.5 million in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman stated: “Mr. Salako spent considerable time planning and perpetrating his scheme to defraud the Alaska PFD.

Thanks to the great work of the Alaska Department of Revenue and FBI, he didn’t succeed; but even attempting to defraud the PFD will not be tolerated and could result in federal prison.”

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