Two Nigerians jailed in US for $5m wire fraud

Two Nigerians have been sentenced to prison by a US federal court for their involvement in wire fraud.

Franklin Okwonna, 34, and Ebuka Umeti, 35, were convicted for causing over $5 million in losses to multiple victims in the US and elsewhere.

A statement by the US department of justice on Tuesday said Okwonna pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft” on May 20 and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

Umeti was convicted on June 13 and sentenced on August 27 to 10 years in prison.

Both men were asked to pay “nearly $5 million” each as restitution.

“According to court documents and evidence presented at Umeti’s trial, between February 2016 and July 2021, Umeti, Okwonna, and their co-conspirators caused millions of dollars in unauthorized wire transfers by sending victim businesses phishing emails,” the statement reads.

“These emails falsely appeared as though they originated from trusted sources, such as a bank or a vendor.

“After the victim opened an attachment, their computers would be infected with malicious software, or “malware,” that allowed the defendants and their co-conspirators to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s computer systems and email accounts.

“The defendants and their co-conspirators then exploited that access to obtain sensitive information, which they used to deceive individuals at the victim companies into executing wire transfers to accounts specified by the co-conspirators.

“As a result of this scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused or attempted to cause over $5 million in losses to the victim companies.”