Nigerians Sentenced for $2.4M Cyber Fraud Scheme

Chijioke Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, two Nigerian nationals, were sentenced to a total of 189 months in a US federal prison after being found guilty of a large-scale cyber fraud operation that resulted in losses exceeding $2.4 million for American businesses. The US Department of Justice announced their sentencing, with Odimegwu receiving a nine-year term and ordered to pay $366,000 in restitution, while Mogaji was sentenced to six years and directed to pay $995,000 in restitution.

Both men, who resided in Delaware, were part of a criminal network that infiltrated email accounts to redirect payments to accounts controlled by their co-conspirators. They executed email spamming and phishing campaigns to steal employee login credentials, which were then used to create fake email addresses that mimicked those of victims or their business partners.

Among the losses, they diverted over $1.68 million from a victim in Iowa City and more than $720,000 from a business in Ohio. Following their prison sentences, each will serve three years on supervised release.