Two Delaware men of Nigerian descent and former United States Air Force members have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in prison for their involvement in an international phishing and wire fraud scheme.
‎Chijioke Odimegwu, 25, received a 111-month prison sentence and was ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Harafat Mogaji, 26, was sentenced to 78 months and ordered to pay $995,680.45.
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‎The US Department of Justice said the pair were involved in the scheme for nearly two years, targeting businesses across the country through email-spamming and phishing campaigns designed to obtain employees’ usernames and passwords.
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‎Using the stolen credentials, Odimegwu, Mogaji and their co-conspirators allegedly created spoofed email addresses that appeared to belong to their victims or trusted business partners. They then used the accounts to redirect business payments into bank accounts controlled by members of the conspiracy.
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‎In one case, more than $1.68 million that a business in Iowa City, Iowa, intended to wire was diverted to a Chicago bank account linked to the scheme. Another victim in Ohio was defrauded of more than $720,000 through a similar transaction.
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‎The investigation also found that the defendants obtained financial information, including bank account details, personal identification numbers and credit and debit card numbers, through their phishing operations. Some of the stolen information was reportedly bought from their associates.
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‎Prosecutors said the information was subsequently exchanged among members of the conspiracy and used in attempts to carry out unauthorised financial transactions and purchases.
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‎Odimegwu and Mogaji were taken into custody after their sentencing. Upon completing their prison terms, each will spend three years under supervised release.