Posted on 01/25/2016 9:22:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
A Nigerian man living in the U.S. on a student visa faces federal wire fraud charges in connection with a sophisticated email phishing scam targeting businesses.
Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam, 28, of Lagos, Nigeria, was arrested in Baltimore in August and charged with scamming 17 North Texas companies out of more than $600,000 using the technique. He remains in federal custody in Dallas. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
He is accused of sending emails that looked like forwarded messages from top company executives to employees who had the authority to wire money. Amuegbunam tricked the employees into wiring him money by transposing a couple of letters in the actual company email, authorities said.
The FBI issued an alert earlier this year about the new cyberattack it called the “Business Email Compromise.†The FBI said it is a “growing fraud that is more sophisticated than any similar scam the FBI has seen before.â€
Federal officials say more than 7,000 U.S. businesses have been scammed out of a total of about $740 million.
“It’s a prime example of organized crime groups engaging in large-scale, computer-enabled fraud, and the losses are staggering,†said Maxwell Marker, an FBI agent who oversees an organized crime section, in a recent bulletin.
The FBI said it’s the work of organized crime groups from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The Dallas investigation began in 2013 when two North Texas companies reported falling victim to the scheme, each losing about $100,000, according to an FBI complaint.
In the case of Luminant Corp., an electric utility company in Dallas, an employee with the authority to wire money received an email from someone who appeared to be a company executive, the complaint said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
What’s his relationship to Barack Obama?
What’s his relationship to Barack Obama?
“I chop your money!”
Is he a real prince or was that a scam too?
Relative of Barak?
He worked through a private server in a Denver shop bathroom.
They finally caught that tricky Nigerian.
Him!? But he sounded so honest on the phone!
I hope it gets to me sooner than the $2,500 per family Obama promised me the first year in health care savings.
+1
In other news, a four seater Cessna airplane crashed outside College Station earlier today, exploding on impact just outside one of the areas largest cemetaries.
At last count the Aggie Fire department had located 300 victims and the body count continues to mount—ah mean, it’s gettin’ bigger, it’s a dang mystery, y’all. All a y’all ...
Does this mean he is not a long lost prince? He actually isn’t willing to share his wealth with me?
Cemetary=Semetery
Dag nab it.
For a good time, dial 419
Very pleasing! I am so glad that this scam artist is under arrest.
But I surprised that he, and all those others, find so many marks. I notice that he has got away with $600,000 and it may easily turn out to be more.
Is his name ‘Peggy’?
Don’t feel bad. “Cemetary” is a misspelling also.
Can’t we just drop him into the ocean (i.e., feed him to the phish) rather than have the taxpayers clothe and feed him for 30 years?
Management should be replaced at any company that would wire out unscheduled money with a single approval.
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