30-yr-old man bags 3-yr sentence for $25m global email scam

A 30-year-old Nigerian man identified as David Chukwuneke Adindu, 30, has bagged three years and five months prison sentence after he was found guilty of playing a part in a $25m global email scam.

Reports say Adindu pleaded guilty to participating in the major global email scam that targeted thousands of victims across the globe between the year 2014 and 2016.

Adindu was sentenced by a US judge in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday (14 December) on charges stemming from a wire fraud and identity theft conspiracy designed to defraud thousands.

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“Adindu and others carried out BEC scams by exchanging information regarding: bank accounts used for receiving funds from victims; email accounts for communicating with victims; scripts for requesting wire transfers from victims; and lists of names and email addresses for contacting and impersonating potential victims,” authorities said.

He sent phishing emails to employees of various companies, including those in the US, by impersonating supervisors or third-party vendors linked to the company.

The funds transferred from unsuspecting victims were then quickly withdrawn or moved into a different bank account.

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