US
Nigerian held for $7.5m business email compromise scheme involving US charities
Following his arrest in Ghana, Olusegun Samson Adejorin, a Nigerian man, faces an eight-count indictment linked to business email compromise (BEC) charges involving two US charities.
The indictment includes charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized access to a protected computer after allegedly embezzling $7.5 million from a New York-based charity.
Adejorin purportedly acquired a credential harvesting tool to steal email login details from employees at the New York charity and a related organization in North Bethesda, Maryland, providing investment services.
He then allegedly posed as a New York charity employee, convincing the Maryland investment services charity to transfer funds to an account under his control.
Despite withdrawal regulations necessitating approval for transactions over $10,000 from authorized individuals, Adejorin allegedly persuaded the charity to transfer millions of dollars in this fraudulent manner.
Utilizing classic BEC techniques, such as registering spoofed domain names and masking fraudulent emails by relocating them within mailboxes, Adejorin executed the scheme, as outlined by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
If convicted, Adejorin faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each of the five wire fraud counts, up to five years for unauthorized access to a protected computer, and mandatory two-year sentences for each aggravated identity theft count.
Following his arrest in Ghana on December 29, 2023, Adejorin remains in detention, awaiting a court appearance in the West African nation.
The extradition timeline remains uncertain, although Ghana maintains robust diplomatic ties with the US.
The FBI reports that BEC ranked as the second highest-grossing cybercrime type in 2022, amassing over $2.7 billion in illicit gains for cybercriminals