BEVERLY HILLS, June 16, (THEWILL) – The U.S. Department of Justice, working with the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has taken action against six Nigerian nationals for conducting an elaborate scheme to steal over six million dollars from victims across the United States.
The men targeted U.S. businesses and individuals through deceptive global threats known as business email compromise (BEC) and romance fraud and American citizens lost over $6,000,000 due to these fraud schemes in which they impersonated business executives and requested and received wire transfers from legitimate business accounts.
Money was also stolen from innocent Americans by romance fraud, in which the designees masqueraded as affectionate partners to gain trust from victims.
The six individuals manipulated their victims in order to gain access to usernames, passwords, and bank accounts in furtherance of the scheme. Several of those who engaged in romance fraud used online tools, including social media and email, to further their social engineering tactics.
OFAC closely coordinated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which has released details regarding its indictment against members of the conspiracy.
The action includes the designation of six individuals pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757, which targets malicious cyber-enabled activities, including those related to the significant misappropriation of funds or economic resources for private financial gain.
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within or transiting the United States are blocked, and U.S. persons generally are prohibited from dealing with them.
The six individuals are: Richard Uzuh, Micheal Olorunyomi, Alex Ogunshakin, Felix Okpoh, Nnamdi Benson and Abiola Kayode.
*** This report was first published under the header: DOJ Arrests Six Nigerians For $6m Cybercrime Targeting American Businesses And Individuals
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