Two Nigerian ex-US airmen jailed for cyber fraud

Two Nigerian ex-US airmen, Chijioke Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, have been sentenced to a combined 15 years and nine months in prison for their involvement in an international cyber fraud scheme. According to the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Iowa, the two men, both residents of Delaware, schemed against businesses across the United States for roughly two years.

The scheme involved the theft of confidential information from businesses and the use of stolen credentials and "spoofed" email addresses to redirect payments to accounts controlled by the co-conspirators. As a result, Odimegwu and Mogaji diverted over $1.68 million in wire transfers from an Iowa City victim and more than $720,000 from an Ohio victim. These amounts, along with numerous other attempts to divert wire transfers, constituted the bulk of the defendants' fraudulent activities.

Both defendants were found guilty of fraudulently harvesting financial information, including account numbers, identification numbers, credit and debit card numbers, from unsuspecting victims. Odimegwu was sentenced to 111 months in prison and ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Mogaji received a 78-month term and must pay $995,680.45 in restitution. Upon completing their sentences, both men will serve an additional three years of supervised release.