Security News
A coordinated law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 11 members allegedly belonging to a Nigerian cybercrime gang notorious for perpetrating business email compromise attacks targeting more than 50,000 victims in recent years. The disruption of the BEC network is the result of a ten-day investigation dubbed Operation Falcon II undertaken by the Interpol along with participation from the Nigeria Police Force's Cybercrime Police Unit in December 2021.
Researchers have discovered a Nigerian threat actor trying to turn an organization's employees into insider threats by soliciting them to deploy ransomware for a cut of the ransom profits. "In this latest campaign, the sender tells the employee that if they're able to deploy ransomware on a company computer or Windows server, then they would be paid $1 million in bitcoin, or 40% of the presumed $2.5 million ransom," researchers wrote in a report published Thursday about the campaign.
A Nigerian national was arrested recently in the United States on charges related to hacking into user accounts at a payroll processing company, to steal payroll deposits. The man, Charles Onus, 34, who was arrested in San Francisco on April 14, is accused of participating in a scheme that resulted in the compromise of approximately 5,500 user accounts at an unnamed human resources and payroll services company in the U.S. In 2017 and 2018, Onus allegedly employed a credential stuffing attack to gain unauthorized access to user accounts at the targeted company.
A Nigerian email scammer based in New York was on Tuesday sentenced to 40 months in prison, and ordered to pay back $2.7m in stolen money. As opposed to the infamous Nigerian email scams where people pretended to be heirs to fortunes and devised various ways to get victims to send them money to access their funds, the scam run by Eke and three other Nigerian conspirators was significantly more sophisticated, the indictment states [PDF].
Three Nigerian nationals have been arrested in Lagos for their suspected involvement in Business Email Compromise scams. The three - identified only as OC, 32, IO, 34, and OI, 35 - are believed to be part of a larger organized crime group called TMT, which has been involved in malware distribution, phishing, and extensive BEC fraud.
Three Nigerian citizens suspected of being members of an organized cybercrime group behind distributing malware, carrying out phishing campaigns, and extensive Business Email Compromise scams have been arrested in the city of Lagos, Interpol reported yesterday. "The suspects are alleged to have developed phishing links, domains, and mass mailing campaigns in which they impersonated representatives of organizations," Interpol said.
A Nigerian hacker was sentenced to 36 months in prison in the United States for participating in a scheme that targeted government employees. According to court documents and statements, Ogunremi and co-conspirators perpetrated their scheme from at least July 2013 through December 2013, targeting "U.S. government agencies' email systems and General Services Administration vendors," the U.S. Department of Justice reveals.
A Nigerian national who has more than 2.5 million followers on Instagram, where he flaunts his lavish lifestyle, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates and appeared in court in the United States to face cybercrime-related charges. As part of the scheme, Abbas is said to have provided two bank accounts in Europe to a co-conspirator.
The US has dragged a fancy-pants, Instagram-star, high-fashion-flaunting, alleged Nigerian scammer out of the United Arab Emirates and into Chicago to face charges that he helped launder beaucoup bucks gouged out of businesses in email compromise scams. The DOJ is charging Abbas with allegedly conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in BEC and other scams that targeted a US law firm's client, a foreign bank and an English Premier League soccer club, among others.
A Nigerian national appeared in federal court in Chicago Friday accused of orchestrating an international cyber fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say defrauded U.S. businesses in six states out of tens of millions of dollars. He appeared in court Friday morning to face a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.