By Timothy Samuel
A Nigerian, Oludayo Adeagbo, has been sentenced to seven years in prison in the United States over a multimillion-dollar corporate email breach scheme. This was reported by the US Department of Justice in a release from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.
Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, 45, allegedly planned with others to take part in several cyber-enabled BEC schemes with the goal of stealing over $3 million from victim entities in Texas, which included construction companies, local government agencies, and a college in the Houston area. Adeagbo and accomplices also stole almost $1.9 million from a university in North Carolina.
After being extradited from the United Kingdom, Adeagbo—also going by the names John Edwards and John Dayo—arrived in the United States in August 2022 to face criminal charges brought in Charlotte and Houston. Adeagbo entered a guilty plea on April 8 to one count of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his illegal actions in both cases, after the case was transferred to the U.S. s. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. s. District Court for North Carolina’s Western District.
A BEC scheme, also known as “cyber-enabled financial fraud,” is a sophisticated scam that typically targets people or companies that handle wire transfers on a regular basis or are involved in financial transactions. Fraudsters typically belong to bigger criminal networks that operate both domestically and internationally. BEC scams come in a variety of forms. In most cases, the schemes entail hackers getting unauthorized access to authentic email accounts or making accounts that closely mimic those of people or staff members connected to the targeted companies or conducting business with the victim companies. In order to trick the victims into sending money to bank accounts under the control of the scheme’s perpetrators, the scammers then use the compromised or fictitious email accounts to send false wiring instructions to the targeted businesses or individuals. Usually, the funds are moved to other accounts either domestically or abroad very quickly.
The North Carolina BEC Scheme
Based on court records and transcripts, as of Aug. from January 30, 2016, to Jan. 12, 2017, Adeagbo and his codefendants, 42-year-old Donald Ikenna Echeazu, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom who was extradited to the United States, along with others, used a BEC scheme to defraud the University of North Carolina of over $19 million. According to court documents, Adeagbo and his accomplices were able to learn about important construction projects taking place across the country, including a multi-million dollar project that is currently underway at the victim University. Adeagbo, Echeazu, and others carried out the plan by creating an email address that closely matched an employee of the construction company and registering a domain name that was identical to the one of the legal construction company in charge of the University’s project.
The fraudsters tricked the University into sending a payment of over $1.9 million to a bank account held by a person operating under the supervision of Adeagbo and his accomplices by using the fictitious email address. After being paid, Adeagbo and his accomplices used a series of financial maneuvers to hide the fraud in order to launder the proceeds that had been stolen.
Adeagbo worked on a scheme to defraud the university by stealing nearly two million dollars of its funding as North Carolina University planned for growth with a new construction project, according to Special Agent in Charge Robert M. DeWitt of the FBI Charlotte Field Office. “He and his accomplices probably never thought they would be caught when they committed this BEC for the first time more than seven years ago. This federal prison sentence demonstrates that the FBI will make every effort to track down and apprehend foreign financial fraudsters. With support from the FBI’s Cyber and Criminal Investigative Divisions, the case was looked into by the Charlotte Field Office and Houston Cyber Task Force. Significant support was also given by the National Crime Agency, Metropolitan Police Service, City of London Police, and Crown Prosecution Service of the United Kingdom. The arrest and extradition were facilitated by the Office of International Affairs within the Justice Department.
