A self-confessed cyber fraudster and drug-dealer who was caught with 49 rocks of crack cocaine in Colchester has been jailed for five years. 

Dan Aiyegbusi, 23, was sentenced for a string of offences at Southwark Crown Court.

Aiyegbusi had admitted to never working a day in his life and colluded with organised hackers in the UK and internationally to launder stolen money.

He had admitted five separate counts of money laundering, totalling £41,150 and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs crack cocaine and Class B drugs cannabis following an investigation by the Met Police.

Aiyegbusi denied three counts of money laundering totalling £2,167,410 and was subsequently found not guilty in relation to this after a trial in December 2019.

During the trial, the court heard that prior to his arrest by the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit for the money laundering offences, Aiyegbusi, of Eastern Boulevard, Leicester, had been stopped by officers from Essex Police in Colchester and found to be in possession of 49 rocks of crack cocaine.

When he was in custody and Met officers were investigating him for the cyber-crime offences, they were able to gain access to other mobile phones controlled by him, which contained evidence to illustrate his involvement in the county lines supply of Class A drugs.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

An operation by the Met Police found Facebook was used to request banks accounts or credit / debit cards for use in fraud.

Nine victims of his fraudulent activities were found but it is believed the actual number of accounts and victims targeted by Aiyegbusi could have been far higher, with hundreds of potential victims across the country.

He was arrested in June last year and charged over the offences.

Detective Inspector Phil McInerney, from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime – Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Aiyegbusi didn’t have a care in the world as he stole people’s hard-earned cash and then flaunted it all over social media to boost his ego and brag about it.

“Aiyegbusi admitted in court that he had never worked a day in his life, instead acquiring huge sums of money from innocent members of the public, through large-scale cyber-enabled fraud committed across the UK banking sector.

“I would like to thank our partners in the banking sector and the Cyber Defence Alliance for their support and assistance during this investigation.”

One of Aiygebusi’s victims, who is 80 years old, said: “I was so pleased to hear the good news, as it has caused me and my husband a lot of stress and worry.

“I would receive numerous telephone calls from someone purporting to be from a telephone company saying there is a fault. I’ve been too scared to answer the phone in case the same thing happens again.”