Nigerian sentenced to 10 years for $20m cyber fraud targeting 400 Americans

A Nigerian, Babatunde Francis Ayeni, has bagged a 10-year jail sentence for his involvement in a cyber fraud scheme worth $20 million targeting 400 Americans while two other compatriots remain at large.

According to a report on the official website of the U.S Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Alabama last Thursday, the massive cyber fraud conspiracy victimised over 400 people across the United States (US), resulting in a collective loss of nearly $20m.

Ayeni pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April of 2024 and was thereafter sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison.

“According to court documents and testimony, the 33-year-old Babatunde Francis Ayeni, a citizen of Nigeria living in the United Kingdom at the time of his arrest, was involved in a sophisticated business e-mail compromise scheme targeting real estate transactions in the United States,” the report read.

The conspiracy was reportedly carried out by individuals operating out of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

To carry out this scheme, conspirators sent phishing e-mails containing attachments and links embedded with malicious code to title companies, real estate agents, and real estate attorneys across the US.

The U.S Attorney’s Office said if an employee at a targeted real estate business clicked on the malicious link or attachment, they were prompted to enter their e-mail account login information.

“The employee’s login credentials were captured and sent to e-mail accounts controlled by Ayeni and other co-conspirators,” it explained.

“The conspirators then logged into the employee’s e-mail and monitored the account for transactions where a buyer was scheduled to make a payment as part of a real estate transaction.

“Ayeni and other conspirators then sent e-mails to the purchaser from the compromised e-mail account. These e-mails contained wiring instructions.

“When the purchaser wired the funds as instructed in the e-mail, the money was deposited into bank accounts associated with the criminals instead of the legitimate real estate transaction.”

The report added that Ayeni fraudulently obtained the e-mail credentials of a real estate title company in Gulf Shores, Alabama, US, allowing him and co-conspirators to defraud victims in the Southern District of Alabama, and elsewhere.

It said no fewer than 400 people across the United States were victims of the conspiracy and of these, 231 victims were unable to reverse the wire transactions in time and lost their entire transaction.

According to the report from the US Attorney’s Office, the collective loss of these 231 victims was $19,599,969.46.

During the multi-day sentencing hearing, United States District Judge Terry Moorer heard the impact of this crime from nearly twenty victims.

In addition to those who spoke in court, numerous victims provided victim impact statements about how the crime affected them, noting that apart from losing all of the money they saved for the purchase of a new home, they felt significant shame, despair, and depression due to being victimized the way they were.

United States Attorney Sean P. Costello reacting said: “Cyber-enabled crimes can cause substantial and lasting harm to victims in an instant. Criminals across the world may believe that they are causing no harm to their victims and that they are safe behind their keyboards, but this case proves otherwise.

“With our law enforcement partners, we will continue to aggressively investigate, pursue, and hold accountable the crooks who perpetrate frauds online, wherever they are.”

Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile Division of the FBI, said: “This type of behavior will not be tolerated in Alabama. After listening to our citizens speak about how the loss of funds impacted their lives, and the subsequent loss of what they thought was down payments for their future homes, I am pleased to see Ayeni receive a substantial sentence for these crimes.

“FBI Mobile will continue to educate the public about the potential dangers of online activity. If you believe you have been the victim of online fraud, please visit IC3.gov to file an official report.”

Co-defendants Feyisayo Ogunsanwo and Yusuf Lasisi remain at-large and are believed to be outside the US which continues to actively seek their arrest and extradition to face justice in this case.