A Nigerian man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a transnational crime syndicate that has defrauded countless individuals and businesses over the years.
Solomon Ekunke Okpe, a 31-year-old from Lagos, teamed up with others in business email compromise (BEC), work from home, check cashing, romance, and credit card fraud designed to result in over $1 million in losses Did.
After being arrested in Malaysia and extradited to Arizona after a two-year legal battle, Okpe pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire, bank and mail fraud in December 2022.
BEC schemes typically started with phishing attacks that hijacked users’ inboxes. The gang then sent emails to businesses doing business with the victims, demanding payment to new bank accounts under their control.
Read more about the BEC bust: Global police arrest 65 people in multi-million dollar BEC bust.
The work-from-home scam required groups to use fictitious names to pose as their online employers on job boards. Second, it hires individuals for legitimate-looking jobs that are actually fronts for many more fraudulent activities, such as creating bank and payment accounts, sending or withdrawing money from accounts, cashing or depositing counterfeit checks. I was.
Okpe and his co-conspirators perpetrated romance scams by creating fake accounts on dating sites, developing romantic relationships with victims, and transferring funds overseas or receiving money from wire transfer scams. also ran
Okpe stole tens of thousands of dollars from several victims, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
One of the co-conspirators, Johnson Uke Obogo, was extradited from the UK on March 20 and sentenced to one year and one day in prison for his involvement in fraud.
The fraud scheme ran from December 2011 to January 2017.
According to the FBI, BEC scams generated more than $2.7 billion in cybercriminals last year, while romance scams were another high-paying business, costing victims about $736 million.
