A 33-year-old Nigerian man, Babatunde Francis Ayeni, has been sentenced to 10 years in a U.S. federal prison for his involvement in a large-scale cyber fraud conspiracy.
The scheme, which targeted over 400 individuals across the United States, resulted in a collective loss of nearly $20 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in a statement said court documents and testimony revealed the convict was involved in a sophisticated business e-mail compromise scheme targeting real estate transactions in the United States.
Ayeni, who was based in the UK at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April, 2024.
According to the statement, “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.
