A 33-year-old Nigerian national has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a massive cyber fraud conspiracy that victimized over 400 people across the United States, resulting in a collective loss of nearly $20 million.
Babatunde Francis Ayeni, a citizen of Nigeria living in the United Kingdom at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April 2024.
The conspiracy was carried out by individuals operating out of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. 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 United States.
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.
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, containing 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.
Ayeni fraudulently obtained the e-mail credentials of a real estate title company in Gulf Shores, Alabama, allowing him and co-conspirators to defraud victims in the Southern District of Alabama, and elsewhere.
Over 400 people across the United States were victims of the conspiracy. Of these, 231 victims were unable to reverse the wire transactions in time and lost their entire transaction, resulting in a collective loss of $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.
United States Attorney Sean P. Costello 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.’
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.’
Co-defendants Feyisayo Ogunsanwo and Yusuf Lasisi remain at-large and are believed to be outside the United States. The United States continues to actively seek their arrest and extradition to face justice in this case.
To learn more about business email compromise scams, please visit www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scam.
Related Federal Cases
- Babatunde Aniyi Pleads Guilty to $1.5M DoD Fraud Scheme, Lagos Nige… · Washington
- George S. James, Wire Fraud, Georgia 2024 · Alabama
- Anton P Bogdanov, Wire Fraud Conspiracy, New York 2019 · Alabama
- Ken-ichi Larroza Hatakama, Wire Fraud, Florida 2024 · Alabama
- Jinwoo Park, Aiding in U.S. Fraud Scheme, Louisiana 2023 · Arkansas
Key Facts
- State: Alabama
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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