Two Nigerians were indicted in the United States of America last week for fraud that amounted into losses of over N574 million ($1.4 million) for victims.
Christian Akhatsegbe and Emmanuel Aiye Akhatsegbe were arraigned on federal charges of wire and computer fraud conspiracy, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
They allegedly ran their cyber-fraud schemes through email phishing, credential harvesting, and invoice fraud, in partnership with other co-conspirators.
Their scheme involved sending phishing emails to victim companies in the U.S. and Europe, stealing employee access credentials, and then harvesting the credentials on computer servers.
They allegedly used the stolen credentials to present fake invoices and request payments of thousands of dollars.
Authorities accused the two of using the scheme to defraud a UK company of $434,383.45 after stealing the credentials of an employee in November 2019.
They also allegedly used a similar method to defraud a U.S. company who wired two separate payments totalling $996,000 to a Hong Kong account as directed in invoices which were made to appear like they were issued by a vendor of the company.
"This case is an example of our persistent determination to hold criminals accountable no matter how sophisticated their cyber fraud or their geographic location," Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said.
Christian is based in Atlanta, but Emmanuel is believed to still be in Nigeria and on the run.