the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for its dedication
and support in bursting a high profile Business E-mail Compromise, BEC,
fraud in Dallas, Texas, which led to the arrest and eventual of a
Nigerian, Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam.
It acknowledged that the “intelligence obtained by the EFCC and
provided to the FBI via Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty” was instrumental
in identifying the BEC scheme and Amuegbunam’s specific role.
“The
Dallas field Office, Legal Attaché Office, and both the FBI’s Criminal
and Cyber Divisions are extremely appreciative of the EFCC as a joint
partner in the pursuit of global justice for the many victims of these
BEC related crimes”.
Amuegbunam, 30, who was on a student visa
in the US was sentenced to 46months imprisonment and ordered to pay
$615, 555.12 in restitution for his role in BEC scheme that caused
$3.7million loss to US companies.
The convict and other
individuals were said to have between November 2013 and August 2015 sent
fraudulent emails to companies in the Northern District of Texas and
elsewhere containing misrepresentations that caused the companies to
wire transfer funds as instructed on a pdf document that was attached to
the email.
Investigation into the crime followed reports by two
companies in the Dallas Fort Worth area to the FBI Dallas Office that
they had received targeted spear phishing emails allegedly from a top
executive at a company authorising the company’s accounting department
to make financial transfers for the company, a source that was traced to
Amuegbunam.
After complying with the spear-phishing email instructions to transfer funds, the companies became victims of the BEC scheme.