Two Nigerian nationals have been sentenced for their involvement in a large-scale wire fraud scheme that caused over $5 million in losses to multiple victims across the United States and other countries.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, 34, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison by a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia.
He was also ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution to the victims affected by the scam.
Okwonna had pleaded guilty on May 20 to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
His sentencing was confirmed by the DoJ on September 3. The elaborate scheme involved hacking into computer systems and sending deceptive emails that appeared to come from trusted sources like banks or vendors.
Once victims opened these phishing emails, their computers were infected with malware, which allowed the perpetrators to gain unauthorized access to their systems.
Okwonna’s co-defendant, Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, received a harsher sentence of 10 years in prison on August 27. Umeti was convicted by a federal jury on June 13 of multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer.
Court documents and evidence presented at Umeti’s trial revealed that between February 2016 and July 2021, Okwonna, Umeti, and their co-conspirators orchestrated a complex scheme to trick businesses into making unauthorized wire transfers.
They exploited their access to sensitive information from victims’ computer systems and email accounts to manipulate individuals at the companies into transferring funds to accounts controlled by the conspirators.
“According to court documents and evidence presented at Umeti’s trial, between February 2016 and July 2021, Umeti, Okwonna, and their co-conspirators caused millions of dollars in unauthorised wire transfers by sending victim businesses phishing emails.
“These emails falsely appeared as though they originated from trusted sources, such as a bank or a vendor.
“After the victim opened an attachment, their computers would be infected with malicious software, or “malware,” that allowed the defendants and their co-conspirators to gain unauthorised access to the victim’s computer systems and email accounts.
“The defendants and their co-conspirators then exploited that access to obtain sensitive information, which they used to deceive individuals at the victim companies into executing wire transfers to accounts specified by the co-conspirators.
“As a result of this scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused or attempted to cause over $5 million in losses to the victim companies,” the DoJ said.
