Two US Air Force Members Jailed for Multi-Million Dollar Email Fraud Scheme

Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu, 25, and Harafat Mogaji, 26, have been sentenced to more than nine and 6.5 years in prison respectively for a business email compromise scam they ran while stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The pair sent phishing emails to steal employee login credentials, then used spoofed addresses to insert themselves into ongoing email conversations about payments, redirecting funds into bank accounts they controlled.

Prosecutors say the scheme targeted at least 15 organisations over more than two years, including a $1.7 million payment diverted from a victim in Iowa and a $720,000 wire payment stolen from a business in Ohio. The men also harvested financial account details such as credit and debit card numbers, which they used for personal purchases or sold on to other hackers. Both pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud, identity theft and access device fraud, and have been ordered to pay restitution of $366,617 and $995,680 respectively.

The case adds to a growing list of US service members prosecuted for cybercrime, following the recent sentencing of a former Army soldier for hacking telecommunications firms.