FACING 20 YEARS IN PRISON AND $250,000 MAXIMUM FINE :
‘I Hacked into Computers to STEAL $6.5million belonging to American Companies’-Nigeria’s King of Scam, Obinna Obioha tells U.S Federal Court
* Confesses: ‘I plead GUILTY to the wire fraud’
* ‘I fully engaged in 50 wire transfers between January 2016 and September 2016’
*Says: ‘While in Nigeria, I worked with others to hack into computers and email accounts used by dozens of victims in the United States and around the world’
* “Obioha and his associates used bogus email accounts to send fraudulent invoices to victims, instructing them to wire funds to bank accounts controlled by Obioha and his associates, under the pretense that the wires were payments for actual deals that had been previously negotiated by the victims”-U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, FBI special agent in charge of the Albany field office
*Last appearance on FACEBOOK October 4 last year
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, UNITED STATES
HE IS A NIGERIAN who lived large in New York, United States. He shuttled between Nigeria and United States regularly. He gives his coterie of friends the impression that he is a ‘big boy’, living very large in America and Nigeria any time, any day. Unknown to his friends, Obinna Obioha, who hid his true identity and preferred to be called Obinna Kelvin Obioha on Facebook is a criminal, a hacker, notoriously known in most circles as ‘Nigeria’s King of Scam’. He was arrested on arrival at JFK International Airport.
All the attrocities and crime committed by Obioha were fully detailed comprehensively by United States (U.S.) Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, special agent in charge of the Albany field office of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI).
According to the Federal prosecutors, Obioha, 31 years admit hacking into computers, STEALING $6.5 million from American companies when he confessed to a federal court recently his participation in a scheme to hack into computers and email accounts, and steal roughly $6.5 million from American companies last year.
In Obioha confession to Federal Court: : “I admitted that, while in Nigeria, I worked with others to hack into computers and email accounts used by dozens of victims in the United States and around the world. I am guilty of the crime.”
This was corroborated by U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, special agent in charge of the Albany field office of the FBI. Obioha pleaded guilty to wire fraud and now faces 20 years in prison.
“As part of his guilty plea, Obioha admitted that, while in Nigeria, he worked with others to hack into computers and email accounts used by dozens of victims in the United States and around the world,” U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, special agent in charge of the Albany field office of the FBI, announced in a news release.
The federal prosecutors explain: “After monitoring victims’ information to identify imminent commercial transactions, Obioha and his associates created knockoff email addresses that appeared similar to — but varied slightly from — victims’ legitimate email addresses.
“Obioha and his associates then used those bogus email accounts to send fraudulent invoices to victims, instructing them to wire funds to bank accounts controlled by Obioha and his associates, under the pretense that the wires were payments for actual deals that had been previously negotiated by the victims.”
Obioha admitted he was involved in at least 50 wire transfers between January 2016 and September 2016. During that time, about $6.5 million went to bank accounts that Obioha and his associates controlled.
The release by the federal prosecutors reveal that: “The accounts received money from fraud victims in New York, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas, among other places.”
Obioha was arrested Oct. 6, two days after the last time he appeared on Facebook. It was after then he flew from Lagos, Nigeria, to JFK International Airport. He has been in custody since then.
Obioha faces up to 20 years in prison, a maximum $250,000 fine and the possibility of being ordered to pay restitution. U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd is scheduled to sentence Obioha July 26.
In its conclusion, the federal prosecutors said: “Foreign criminal enterprises prey upon American businesses and are using increasingly sophisticated means to do so, as demonstrated by this scheme,” Hartunian said after Obioha pleaded guilty Monday. “Obioha’s apprehension and conviction is a reminder that foreign nationals targeting American businesses cannot operate with impunity and that the reach of U.S. law enforcement agencies is global.”
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