The United States Federal
Bureau of Investigation, FBI, has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, for its dedication and support in bursting a high profile
Business E-mail Compromise, BEC, fraud in Dallas, Texas, which led to the
arrest and eventual of a Nigerian, Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam.
It acknowledged that the
“intelligence obtained by the EFCC and provided to the FBI via Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty” was instrumental in identifying the BEC scheme and
Amuegbunam’s specific role.
“The Dallas field Office,
Legal Attaché Office, and both the FBI’s Criminal and Cyber Divisions are
extremely appreciative of the EFCC as a joint partner in the pursuit of global
justice for the many victims of these BEC related crimes”.
Amuegbunam, 30, who was on
a student visa in the US was sentenced to 46months imprisonment and ordered to
pay $615, 555.12 in restitution for his role in BEC scheme that caused
$3.7million loss to US companies.
The convict and other
individuals were said to have between November 2013 and August 2015 sent
fraudulent emails to companies in the Northern District of Texas and elsewhere
containing misrepresentations that caused the companies to wire transfer funds
as instructed on a pdf document that was attached to the email.
Investigation into the
crime followed reports by two companies in the Dallas Fort Worth area to the
FBI Dallas Office that they had received targeted spear phishing emails
allegedly from a top executive at a company authorising the company’s
accounting department to make financial transfers for the company, a source
that was traced to Amuegbunam.
After complying with the
spear-phishing email instructions to transfer funds, the companies became
victims of the BEC scheme.
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