The number of Nigerian cybercriminals who have been imprisoned in the United States has increased in the past few months with some of them given long sentences, according to a report obtained by Persecondnews.
The most recent is Babatunde Francis Ayeni, a Nigerian national who resided in the United Kingdom until his extradition to the United States.
For a business email compromise (BEC) scheme that targeted real estate transactions, the Justice Department announced on Thursday that he had been sentenced to a 10-year prison term.
Ayeni was allegedly involved in a sophisticated BEC scheme that involved hijacking the email credentials of real estate agents and solicitors in the United States, according to authorities.
The man and his co-conspirators monitored compromised email accounts for significant real estate transactions and then instructed the party that was making the payment — by sending them an email from the hacked account — to wire the funds to an account controlled by the fraudsters.
According to the DOJ, more than 400 individuals from the US fell victim, more than half of which were unable to recover the money and lost a total of nearly $20 million.
Two of Ayeni’s accomplices, Feyisayo Ogunsanwo and Yusuf Lasisi, have been identified and charged, but still at large.
Ayeni is the second Nigerian to be given a lengthy prison sentence this month over his role in a BEC scheme targeting real estate transactions.
Last week, the Justice Department announced that Kolade Akinwale Ojelade has been sentenced to 26 years in prison for a BEC campaign that resulted in losses totaling $12 million. Ojelade had also been living in the UK before he was extradited to the US.
Among Nigerian cybercriminals prosecuted in recent months in the US include Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, who was extradited from the UK in 2022, was sentenced to seven years in prison in September for his role in a multimillion-dollar BEC scheme.
Another Nigerian citizen who was extradited from the UK to face cybercrime charges, Simon Kaura, was sentenced in September to five years in prison for selling stolen financial information on the dark web.
Bamidele Omotosho, also extradited from the United Kingdom, received a 12-year prison sentence in July over a cybercrime scheme that involved purchasing credentials and personal information from a dark web marketplace, and using it to make fraudulent money transfers.
Ebuka Raphael Umeti, who was last year extradited from Kenya to the United States, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in early September.
His co-defendant, Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, was sentenced at around the same time to five years and three months in prison.
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