Solomon Ekunke Okpe, a 31-year-old Nigerian national, has been sentenced to four years and one month in prison for his participation in a business email compromise (BEC) fraud scheme that targeted banks, businesses, and individuals in the US and abroad.
The scheme, which also included credit card, work-from-home, check-cashing, and romance scams, was intended to cause more than a million dollars in losses to US victims.
Okpe and his co-conspirators used a variety of methods to carry out the fraud, including phishing emails, identity theft, and stolen credit cards.
Posing as trusted individuals, the cybercriminals tricked banks and companies into transferring funds to bank accounts they controlled.
In addition, they claimed to hire work-from-home employees on job websites and forums, who were then directed to perform actions facilitating the fraud schemes, such as creating bank and payment processing accounts and cashing counterfeit checks.
The fraudsters also conducted romance fraud, creating accounts on dating websites and engaging with individuals under fictitious identities, and then asking the intended victims to transfer money overseas or to receive proceeds from wire-transfer scams.
Okpe was arrested in Malaysia and detained there for over two years while contesting his extradition to the US.
In December, Okpe and his co-conspirator Johnson Uke Obogo pleaded guilty to wire, bank, and mail fraud charges. Obogo was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for his role in related fraud schemes.
