(Des Moines, IA) — Two Delaware, IA men who were members of the U.S. Air Force have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in an international cyber fraud scheme targeting businesses and nonprofits.
Twenty-five-year-old Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu was sentenced to 111 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $366,000 in restitution. Twenty-six-year-old Harafat Mogaji was sentenced to 78 months and ordered to pay nearly $996,000 in restitution.
According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, the men spent nearly two years using email spam and phishing campaigns to steal usernames and passwords from employee email accounts.
The stolen credentials were then used, along with spoofed email addresses, to impersonate businesses and their partners and redirect wire payments to accounts controlled by the conspiracy.
The scheme included victims in Iowa and across the country. Investigators say the men and their co-conspirators fraudulently diverted a wire transfer of more than $1.68 million from a victim in Iowa City to a Chicago bank account controlled by the conspiracy. They also diverted more than $720,000 sent by an Ohio victim.
The defendants also stole financial information, including bank account numbers, PINs and credit and debit card information. That included credit card information belonging to a nonprofit organization in Pella.
Odimegwu and Mogaji also exchanged stolen financial information and attempted to make unauthorized purchases using information taken from victims across the country.
Both men were taken into custody following sentencing. After serving their prison terms, each will be placed on three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lubben prosecuted the case.
