Chibundu Joseph Anuebunwa, a Nigerian, has been sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 66 months (that is 5 years, 5 months) in prison for his role in fraudulent business email compromise (BEC) scams that targeted thousands of victims around the world, including those in the US. Cumulatively, the scams attempted to defraud victims of over $3.5 million, resulting in over $2.5 million in actual losses to victims.
In connection with the same conspiracy as Anuebunwa, co-defendant David Chukwuneke Adindu was previously sentenced to 41 months in prison, and co-defendant Onyekachi Emmanuel Opara was previously extradited from South Africa and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
On June 29, 2023, Anuebunwa pled guilty to participating in a wire fraud conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, who imposed his sentence.
Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Monday October 2, 2023, that Chibundu Joseph Anuebunwa was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 66 months in prison for his role in fraudulent BEC scams.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “From halfway around the world, Chibundu Joseph Anuebunwa tried to victimize thousands of people by stealing millions of dollars using fraudulent and deceptive emails that were sent to company employees in the United States and elsewhere. He will now spend time in prison for these serious crimes. Today’s sentence should deter scammers outside of the United States who may be tempted to steal money from American victims with cyberattacks and email scams.”
According to filed court documents and statements made at public court proceedings, between 2014 and 2016, Anuebunwa, Opara, and Adindu participated in BEC scams targeting thousands of victims around the world, including in those the US. Anuebunwa sent bogus emails to employees of various companies directing that funds be transferred to specified bank accounts.
“The emails purported to be from supervisors at those companies or third-party vendors that did business with those companies. The emails, however, were not legitimate. Rather, they were either from email accounts with a domain name that was very similar to a legitimate domain name, or the metadata in the emails had been modified so that the emails appeared as if they were from legitimate email addresses. After victims complied with the fraudulent wiring instructions, the transferred funds were quickly withdrawn or moved into different bank accounts. In total, the BEC scams attempted to defraud the victims of over $3.5 million, resulting in over $2.5 million in actual losses to victims,” reads an update on the DoJ website.
Anuebunwa was arrested on March 16, 2021, in the UK and then later extradited to the Southern District of New York on May 20, 2022. In addition to the prison term, the 30-year old Anuebunwa of Lagos, Nigeria, was ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The judge also thanked UK authorities and the Yahoo E-Crime Investigations Team for their assistance in the investigation. The US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the defendant’s extradition from the UK. The BEC case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
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