Two former Air Force members sentenced for BEC scams and phishing

Two former members of the United States Air Force have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their involvement in a multi-year business email compromise (BEC) scam and phishing campaign. Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu, 25, and Harafat Mogaji, 26, conducted these attacks while stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as reported by Bleeping Computer.

The duo stole victims' employee email credentials through spamming and phishing campaigns. They then used spoofed email addresses, mimicking those of business partners, along with the stolen credentials, to redirect payments to accounts controlled by their accomplices both domestically and internationally. Odimegwu and Mogaji also conducted unauthorized financial transactions using stolen personal and financial information. Notably, they fraudulently diverted a wire transfer of over $1.68 million from an Iowa victim and another of over $720,000 from an Ohio victim to accounts controlled by their conspiracy.

Odimegwu received 111 months in prison and was ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Mogaji received 78 months and was ordered to pay $995,680.45 in restitution. Both will also serve three years of supervised release. BEC scams remain a significant cyber threat, with the FBI reporting over $3 billion in losses last year.

Source: Bleeping Computer