Two Nigerian men who served in the US Air Force have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in a cyber fraud operation that stole more than $2.4 million from American businesses.
Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, both residents of Delaware at the time of the offences, were sentenced on September 25 in the Southern District of Iowa. US Attorney David Waterman announced the sentences through public information officer MacKenzie Tubbs.
Odimegwu received 111 months and was ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution. Mogaji was sentenced to 78 months and ordered to pay $995,680.45. Both were taken into custody after sentencing and will each serve three years of supervised release once they complete their prison terms.
Prosecutors said the pair and other conspirators in the United States and abroad spent nearly two years targeting businesses through email spam and phishing campaigns. They stole employee usernames and passwords, then used the credentials to initiate fraudulent wire transfers. The group also created spoofed email addresses that mimicked those of victims and their business partners, tricking companies into sending legitimate payments to accounts controlled by the conspiracy.
Odimegwu and Mogaji helped divert more than $1.68 million sent by a victim in Iowa City, Iowa, to a bank account in Chicago. They also diverted more than $720,000 from a victim in Ohio. Prosecutors said these were among many attempts to redirect wire transfers involving businesses in Iowa and elsewhere.
The defendants harvested financial details during the campaigns, including bank account numbers, personal identification numbers, and credit and debit card information. Among the stolen data were credit card details belonging to a non-profit organisation in Pella, Iowa. They also purchased stolen financial information from co-conspirators, shared it among themselves, and tried to use it for unauthorised transactions and purchases.
The case was prosecuted in the Southern District of Iowa.
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