US Releases Names and Photo of Two Nigerians Sentenced to 15 Years in US Prison for $2.4m Fraud
- A US district court in Iowa handed down a combined 189-month prison sentence to two Nigerians found guilty of cyber fraud
- Chijioke Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji ran phishing campaigns that targeted businesses across the United States
- Both men, who were members of the US Air Force and lived in Delaware, were taken into custody immediately after sentencing
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Two Nigerian nationals have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in a US federal prison after a district court in Iowa found them guilty of orchestrating a large-scale cyber fraud operation that cost American businesses more than $2.4 million.
The US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that Chijioke Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji worked alongside a criminal network to infiltrate business email accounts and redirect payments to accounts controlled by their co-conspirators.
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Both men lived in Delaware and were serving members of the United States Air Force at the time.
Odimegwu received a nine-year sentence and was ordered to pay $366,000 in restitution. Mogaji was sentenced to six years and directed to pay $995,000 in restitution. Following their prison terms, each man will serve three years on supervised release.
How the fraud scheme worked
Court documents show the pair spent close to two years targeting companies across the country through email spamming and phishing campaigns designed to steal employee login credentials.
Once they gained access to those accounts, they and their network created fake email addresses built to look like those belonging to victims or their known business partners.
"The stolen credentials, along with email addresses mimicking emails associated with the victim or its business partners, were used to communicate with their victims and redirect payments to and from the victims' trusted business partners to accounts controlled by the defendants' co-conspirators," the DOJ said in a statement.
Millions diverted across multiple states
Among the specific losses detailed in court proceedings, the defendants diverted more than $1.68 million from a victim based in Iowa City to a bank account in Chicago. They also redirected over $720,000 from a business in Ohio. The DOJ described these as a fraction of the total number of attempted wire transfer diversions the defendants carried out against businesses in Iowa and other parts of the United States.
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Both men were taken into custody immediately after sentencing.
See details in US website.
US releases fresh names and photos of 10 Nigerians to be deported
Legit.ng earlier reported that the United States government has released the names and photographs of 10 Nigerian nationals facing deportation, with the individuals held at detention facilities across several American states.
The detainees face a wide range of criminal charges, including wire fraud, identity theft, drug offences, child cruelty, and weapons possession.
Source: Legit.ng
