Three Nigerian men have been extradited from the UK to the US to face charges of conducting business email compromise (BEC) schemes that targeted universities in three states and cost the victims around $5 million.
John Adeagbo, 43, Donald Echeazu, 40, and Olabanji Egbinola, 42, stand accused of multiple charges including wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering, in what the US Department of Justice (DoJ) says was a cybercriminal campaign that targeted universities and other organizations in North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
Adeagbo and Echeazu are accused of using fake email addresses to pose as a construction company between 2016 and 2017 to defraud a university in North Carolina of just under $2 million. The two allegedly persuaded the university to wire them the money after duping it into believing they were a legitimate contractor.
“Adeagbo and Echeazu conspired with other individuals to obtain information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the United States, including an ongoing multimillion-dollar project at the victim university,” said the DoJ, announcing the extradition.
“To execute the scheme, the defendants allegedly registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the university’s project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company.”
The defendants then allegedly laundered the stolen money through financial…