By Ado Oyeyemi
Two Nigerians based in the United States, Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in a cyber fraud scheme that defrauded businesses of more than $2.4m.
The pair, who were residents of Delaware and members of the US Air Force at the time of the offences, were sentenced on September 25, 2026, after being convicted for their involvement in the international cyber intrusion operation.
The development was contained in a statement issued by the Public Information Officer for the Southern District of Iowa, MacKenzie Tubbs, following an announcement by the US Attorney, David Waterman.
According to Tubbs, Odimegwu, Mogaji and their co-conspirators targeted businesses across the United States for nearly two years through email spamming and phishing campaigns.
The conspirators allegedly used the campaigns to obtain usernames and passwords from employees’ email accounts and subsequently used the stolen credentials to facilitate fraudulent transactions.
They also allegedly created spoofed email addresses resembling those of victims and their legitimate business partners to communicate with businesses and redirect payments into bank accounts controlled by members of the conspiracy.
Tubbs said Odimegwu and Mogaji, working with accomplices in the US and other countries, diverted more than $1.68m in a wire transfer sent by a victim in Iowa City to a Chicago bank account controlled by the conspiracy.
She added that the pair also diverted more than $720,000 transferred by a victim in Ohio into another account controlled by the group.
“These are in addition to many other attempts Odimegwu and Mogaji made to divert wire transfers made by businesses in Iowa and across the country,” Tubbs stated.
The defendants were also accused of harvesting sensitive financial information from victims during the phishing operations, including bank account details, personal identification numbers and credit and debit card information.
Tubbs said the stolen information included credit card details belonging to a non-profit organisation in Pella, Iowa, adding that the defendants also bought similar stolen information from their co-conspirators.
She said the suspects exchanged the stolen data and attempted to use it to conduct unauthorised financial transactions and make purchases using information obtained from victims across the country.
Odimegwu was sentenced to 111 months in prison and ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Mogaji received a 78-month prison sentence and was ordered to pay $995,680.45 in restitution.
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Both defendants were taken into custody following their sentencing and will each serve three years of supervised release after completing their prison terms.
