Two Nigerian nationals were sentenced to prison in the US for operating a business email compromise (BEC) scheme, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

One of the individuals, Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, was sentenced on August 27 to 10 years in prison. His co-defendant, Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, 34, was sentenced on September 3 to five years and three months in prison. Each of the defendants was ordered to pay roughly $5 million in restitution.

According to court documents, the BEC scheme operated by the fraudsters was aimed at causing millions in losses to victim organizations in the US and abroad.

Between February 2016 and July 2021, court documents and evidence presented in court showed, the two sent phishing emails that appeared to originate from trusted sources.

The phishing emails carried attachments meant to infect the targets’ systems with malware that allowed the co-conspirators to remotely access the victims’ systems and email accounts, and steal sensitive information.

Umeti, Okwonna, and their co-conspirators then used the stolen information to trick employees at victim organizations into making wire transfers to accounts under the scammers’ control.

“As a result of this scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused or attempted to cause over $5 million in losses to the victim companies,” the DoJ notes.

Umeti was convicted in June of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to damage a protected computer, and damage to a protected computer. Okwonna pleaded guilty in May to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.

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