Nigerian citizen Babatunde Francis Ayeni has been sentenced in the US to 10 years in prison for a large-scale business email fraud. Ayeni and his accomplices defrauded more than 400 victims, including people who were trying to buy real estate, out of about 20 million$.
Babatunde Ayeni, 33, pleaded guilty to fraud in April and was sentenced this week. Ayeni’s accomplices, Feisayo Ogunsanwo and Yusuf Rasisi, who were based in Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, sent phishing emails to real estate agents, lawyers and real estate companies in the US. Using phishing messages, they gained access to employee accounts and intercepted payment information. Hackers sent customers altered payment details to transfer funds to their accounts.
Of the more than 231 victims, they were unable to get their money back. In total, criminals stole 19.6 million$, leaving people who were planning to buy a home penniless. One victim lost more than $100,000 trying to buy a house for her ailing father. According to the indictment, the victims’ funds were used to buy bitcoins through Coinbase.
Business email cybercrime remains one of the most dangerous and costly forms of digital fraud. The most common victims of fraud are money transfer companies: in 2023, the FBI reported losses from such schemes in the amount of 2.9 billion US dollars and warned that criminals are increasingly using cryptocurrency accounts to hide funds.
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