Three Nigerian men have been charged in the United States with $6 million wire fraud involving a business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
The suspects who are said to be living in South Africa are; Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo, 29; James Junior Aliyu, 28; and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu, 31.
According to a statement by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday, they allegedly contrived with some Maryland residents to have “unauthorised access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses”.
In the seven-count indictment, the US DOJ said the defendants conspired with others to perpetrate a BEC scheme from February 2016 until at least July 2017.
part of the statement reads “Specifically, the indictment alleges that the defendants and their co-conspirators, including co-conspirators residing in Maryland, gained unauthorised access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses targeted by the conspirators.
“The co-conspirators then allegedly sent false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails, which are emails with forged sender addresses, to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators of the scheme, called “drop accounts.”
“The indictment also alleges that the defendants conspired to commit money laundering by disbursing the fraudulently obtained funds in the drop accounts to other accounts by initiating account transfers, withdrawing cash, obtaining cashier’s checks, and by writing checks to other individuals and entities, to hide the true ownership and the source of those assets.”
In the statement, the US said Simon-Ebo, the first defendant, was deported to the US from Canada on Wednesday and will make his first appearance in court on Friday.
While giving specifics of the suspected crime, the US said “Aliyu for instance, who had prior knowledge that funds were the proceeds of criminality and that the transaction was premeditated to conceal the nature, source, and ownership of those funds, is purported to have made a $350,000 wire transfer from one of the drop accounts in Maryland to an account he controlled in South Africa.”
“Specifically, Simon-Ebo is charged in three wire fraud counts involving $6,343,533.10 in victim funds being wired to accounts controlled by conspirators.” The US said.
An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty however, If found guilty, the defendants are liable to 20 years in federal prison.
