A British-Nigerian man, Oludayo Adeagbo, also known as John Edwards and John Dayo, has been sentenced to seven years in U.S. federal prison for his involvement in a high-stakes business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
The cyber-enabled fraud, orchestrated with accomplices Donald Echeazu and Olabanji Egbinola, defrauded businesses and institutions across the United States, resulting in over $5 million in losses.
The three men were extradited from the United Kingdom in 2022 and faced charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Court records reveal that Adeagbo’s BEC scheme specifically targeted educational institutions and high-value construction projects.
The criminals used fake email accounts and nearly identical domain names to impersonate reputable construction companies managing large-scale projects, tricking institutions into transferring money into accounts they controlled.
Their most notable scam occurred in North Carolina, where they posed as contractors for a university construction project, convincing officials to transfer $1.9 million into a fraudulent account.
The scheme extended to other states, including Texas and Virginia, where Adeagbo and his co-conspirators impersonated construction firms working with government agencies and educational institutions, deceiving them out of another $3 million.
By mimicking authentic businesses, they created a seamless front that made it difficult for the targeted institutions to detect the fraudulent activity.
On April 8, 2024, Adeagbo pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering related to the scheme.
Alongside his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $942,655.03 in restitution to compensate the scheme’s victims.
The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that Adeagbo’s case is part of broader federal efforts to address the rising threat of business email compromise scams, which have become a major challenge in financial crime investigations.
BEC scams, where criminals impersonate contractors, vendors, or executives, are a significant cybersecurity threat.
These scams usually involve creating counterfeit email addresses and domains that resemble legitimate companies, and manipulating victims into sending funds to fraudulent accounts.
With the digital landscape evolving, the scams have grown more sophisticated, putting companies, government agencies, and institutions at risk of substantial financial losses.
On its part, the Department of Justice vowed to keep combating cyber-enabled financial crimes and increasing awareness among businesses and institutions on how to identify and prevent BEC attacks.
Meanwhile, a new study from the University of Surrey, in partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has revealed significant insights into cryptocurrency fraud trends in Nigeria.
According to the study, young Nigerian men are predominantly involved in these high-stakes crimes, with 100% of convicted cryptocurrency fraudsters being male and nearly two-thirds under 30.
The study also found that a substantial portion of their targets are American, with 55% of fraud cases focusing on U.S. victims.
