A United States court has sentenced a Nigerian, identified as Solomo Okpe, to four-year imprisonment for taking part in online scams leading up to $1 million in losses to victims.
It was learnt that the scams, involving the 31-year-old, targeted US citizens and banks.
The convict was sent to an American jail after being extradited from Malaysia, where he was arrested, to the US to stand trial.
Okpe, alongside his accomplices, were said to have “devised and executed business email compromise (BEC), work-from-home, check-cashing, romance, and credit card scams” between 2011 and 2017
NIGERIACRIME gathered that the targeted victims included individuals, banks, and businesses in the US and other countries, who were subjected to email phishing attacks aimed at stealing login credentials and other sensitive information.
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The US Department of Justice stated that the convict and his accomplices intended to cause more than $1 million in losses to US victims, although it is unclear if they achieved their dubious aim.
The DoJ said First American Holding Company and MidFirst Bank were victims of this syndicate.
On March 20, the court jailed one Johnson Uke Obogo, Okpe’s gang member.
Obogo was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for his role in the scams, a considerably shorter tariff than Okpe’s.
In another news, yet-to-be identified gunmen have allegedly killed three personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Imo State.
The incident which happened at EkeIsu market in Obiangwu Community in the Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of the state has thrown the community into panic.
A community source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the slain corps were attacked in the early hours of Monday.
He said that the NSCDC personnel were riding in a vehicle when they were ambushed and killed by their attackers, while noting that security operatives had taken over the community.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, said security operatives had moved into the community and restored normalcy.