Two Nigerian ex-US airmen jailed for cyber fraud

Two Nigerians who were members of the United States Air Force have been sentenced to a combined 15 years and nine months for their roles in an international cyber intrusion scheme.

In a press statement by the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Iowa, on Tuesday, Chijioke Odimegwu, 25, and Harafat Mogaji, 26, residing in Delaware, were sentenced last Friday.

According to public documents, the two Nigerians, for nearly two years, attacked business victims across the US, tricking them to release confidential information.

“They and their co-conspirators then used these stolen credentials, along with “spoofed” email addresses mimicking emails associated with the victim or its business partners, to communicate with their victims, and redirect payments to and from the victims’ trusted business partners to accounts controlled by the defendants’ co-conspirators,” the statement added.

Odimegwu and Mogaji, conniving with their accomplices, diverted more than $1.68m wire sent by a victim in Iowa City to a bank account in Chicago owned by the conspiracy.

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“They also diverted more than $720,000 wire sent by a victim in Ohio to a bank account controlled by the conspiracy. These are in addition to many other attempts Odimegwu and Mogaji made to divert wire transfers made by businesses in Iowa and across the country,” the release disclosed.

Both Nigerians have fraudulently harvested financial information from victims, including account numbers, identification numbers, credit and debit card numbers, to scam unsuspecting victims.

The report stated that Odimegwu was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 111 months and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $366,617.59, while Mogaji was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 78 months and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $995,680.45.

“Both were taken into custody following sentencing. After completing their prison terms,

Odimegwu and Mogaji will each serve a three-year term of supervised release,” it added.