A thirty-four year-old Nigerian, Charles Williams Onus has been arrested in the United States. Charles was charged with computer fraud, he damaged protected computer for unauthorised access for continuous fraud, receipt of stolen money, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft were discovered.
According to
CONAN Daily, Onus is accused of stealing payroll deposits processed by a
company that provides human resources and payroll services to employers across
the U.S. He allegedly participated in a scheme from about July 2017 to 2018 to
conduct cyber intrusions of multiple user accounts maintained by the company.
During this
period, 5,500 company user accounts were compromised and more than $800,000
(N3. 6 billion) in payroll funds were fraudulently diverted to prepaid debit
cards, including those under Onus’s control. The compromised accounts were
associated with employers whose payroll was processed by the company, including
employers located in New York, USA.
On April 14,
2021, Onus was arrested in San Francisco, California, USA and detained. On June
2, 2021, he was presented in federal court in Manhattan, New York City, New
York before Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave.
According to
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, Onus committed the crime “as
effectively as someone who commits bank burglary but with no need for a
blowtorch or bolt-cutters.” The lawyer praised the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation
(IRS-CI) for their investigative work.
Strauss also
thanked the FBI Field Office in San Francisco, the FBI New York Cyber Task
Force, the New York City Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border
Protection for their assistance in the investigation of the case, which was
assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe. IRS-CI special
agent-in-charge Jonathan D. Larsen assured that they will always work with the
law enforcement partners to track down those who try to breach the tax and
financial infrastructure of the U.S.
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