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No record of ‘Chinonso Amadi’s’ arrest for scam in South Africa

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
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Screenshpt of the viral post.
Screenshpt of the viral post.

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A post claiming that a man named Chinonso Amadi, was apprehended in South Africa for allegedly defrauding a client of $520,000 has circulated widely on social media.

An X account, @THESTATENEWS, posted the claim with the caption:

“A retired FBI agent, James Benzon, took it upon himself to track down a Nigerian scammer who stole $520,000 from a client. The suspect, Chinonso Amadi, a Nigerian national residing in Ballingo, South Africa, was apprehended with the assistance of South African authorities and is currently being extradited to the United States.”

As of February 3, the post had generated over 2,800 reposts and 13,000 likes.
The same claim has also appeared on other platforms.

CLAIM

A Nigerian man named Chinonso Amadi was arrested in South Africa for a $520,000 scam.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

The claim surfaced amid heightened public attention on transnational crimes involving Nigerians, following the recent release of a list by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identifying 79 Nigerian nationals arrested in enforcement operations across multiple US states.

The arrests were linked to offences including wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, violent crimes, drug offences, and illegal re-entry into the US after deportation.

However, a review of Nigerian and diaspora media reports shows no record of any Nigerian named Chinonso Amadi being arrested or extradited from South Africa in connection with a $520,000 scam.

Further checks using Google Reverse Image Search reveal that the photo attached to the viral post does not show Chinonso Amadi. Instead, it depicts James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian arrested in 2022 for phishing, internet fraud, and money laundering amounting to R192 million (about ₦4.7 billion).

Additionally, geographic checks did not come up with results for a location called “Balingo” or “Ballingo” in South Africa, further undermining the credibility of the claim.

VERDICT

The claim that a Nigerian named Chinonso Amadi was apprehended in South Africa for a $520,000 scam is FALSE. The arrest photo is from an unrelated 2022 case, and both the alleged suspect and location cited in the viral post do not exist in public records.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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