Security News > 2022 > October > BEC Scammer Gets 25-Year Jail Sentence for Stealing Over $9.5 Million

A 46-year-old man in the U.S. has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of laundering over $9.5 million accrued by carrying out cyber-enabled financial fraud.

Elvis Eghosa Ogiekpolor of Norcross, Georgia, operated a money laundering network that opened at least 50 business bank accounts for illicitly receiving funds from unsuspecting individuals and businesses after falling victim to romance frauds and business email compromise scams.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Ogiekpolor enlisted the help of eight "Money mules" to open the phony bank accounts under the names of non-existent companies, which were subsequently used to stash the proceeds from their criminal activities.

"Once the fraud proceeds posted to his accounts, Ogiekpolor laundered the funds, including wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to overseas accounts, and withdrawing substantial amounts in cash and cashier's checks," the DoJ said, adding the scam targeted retired widows or widowers.

BEC attacks are typically executed by sending spear-phishing email messages that purport to be from a known source that has ongoing contracts with the targeted victims and asking them to transfer funds to a different account under the cybercriminals' control.

Ogiekpolor's sentencing follows the conviction of five of his co-conspirators, all of whom have been accused of conspiracy to commit money laundering and have since pleaded guilty to the crime.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/bec-scammer-gets-25-year-jail-sentence.html