- Scammers posing as the President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s inauguration team fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- The individuals involved utilized counterfeit email addresses designed to appear as if they were from the initial committee in order to “trick or pressure victims into giving them money”
- The story was reported by several Nigerian newspapers, some of which may have caused confusion with their headlines and content.
cryptogazet.com.ngJournalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf brings more than five years of expertise in verifying information.
Ikeja, Lagos state –Social media updates and Nigerian news outlets reported that a Nigerian “Yahoo Boy” deceived U.S. President Donald Trump into handing over $250,000.
cryptogazet.com.ngstates that ‘Yahoo Boy’ (another term for ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ or ‘G-Boys’) refers to individuals who deceive mainly non-Nigerians through the internet.
The term refers to a clever nickname for a Nigerian scammer. It may denote someone who selects targets, prepares schemes, hacks into systems, deceives others, and at times, is harshly called a money magician — presented as ‘Yahoo Plus’. It represents a prevalent type of crime carried out by young Nigerians.
Babatunde Olushola (@itsSh0la), a popular X (formerly Twitter) user, shared the following on Friday, July 4, 2025:
A young man deceived the entire Donald Trump, the President of the United States, out of 250,000 dollars. Some of you are truly bold.
Global media, including an American magazineFortune and The Independent UK reported on the case.
Several Nigerian newspapers covered the story, with some headlines potentially causing misunderstanding. One newspaper headlined its piece as ‘FBI investigates Lagos Yahoo Boy for allegedly defrauding U.S. President Donald Trump of 2025 inauguration funds,’ while another used the title ‘How Lagos Yahoo Boy tricked U.S. President Donald Trump out of 2025 inauguration funds,’ later clarifying in the article that a donor had been deceived.
Given the statement spread rapidly,cryptogazet.com.ng probed it.
Confirming the claim of Trump scam victim
Documents from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicate that a cryptocurrency fraud involving $250,300 took place. Nevertheless, Trump was not the individual who directly fell victim to this scheme.
As per the lawsuit, on December 24, 2024, the scam victims (not including Trump) got an email from an individual claiming to be Steve Witkoff, co-chair of the Trump-Vance inauguration committee.
cryptogazet.com reports that emails from the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee are @t47inaugural.com, but the email received by the victim was from @t47lnaugural.com, with the lowercase “I” replaced by a lowercase “L.”
The fake Steve Witkoff, a fraudster based in Nigeria, told the victims to transfer money into a crypto wallet that ends with 58c52.
On December 26, 2024, the victim transferred 250,300 USDT.ETH to a cryptocurrency wallet, thinking the money was intended for the Trump and Vance inaugural committee. Less than two hours after receiving the funds, they were transferred from the 58c52 crypto wallet to other digital addresses.
Due to the unacceptable action, the United States aimed to recover $40,300 from the cryptocurrency scheme that falsely represented the Trump-Vance inauguration committee.
Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, issued a press statement regarding the significant fraudulent activity.
The complete statement can be viewed through the link provided below:
Therefore, claims that a Nigerian ‘Yahoo boy’ defrauded Trump of $250,000 are deceptive. In reality, it was a supporter attempting to donate to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee who fell victim to a fraudster traced by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to Nigeria.
Yahoo Boys: An American woman recounts her experience
Earlier, cryptogazet.com.ngreported that an American woman shared how two ‘Yahoo Boys’ tricked her into losing large amounts through romance fraud, even though she continues to have a positive view of Nigerian men.
A popular video showed her experiences, exposing how the fraudsters influenced her feelings and money.
She showed the photograph of the young Nigerian man and the one he had used on his unsuspecting victims.
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