Two Nigerians Convicted For Internet Fraud In US Risk Twenty Years Imprisonment
LAGOS NOVEMBER 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-Two Nigerians identified as Nosayamen Iyalekhue and Esogie Osawaru have pleaded guilty to defrauding victims using various internet frauds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Osawaru pleaded guilty on November 12, Iyalekhue, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Thursday.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Rya W. Zobel in Boston, Massachusetts, has scheduled sentencing for March 4, 2021.
They both risk 20 years in prison.
Iyalekhue, a former TD Bank teller in Norwood, Massachusetts from 2018 to 2019, was arrested in June 2020 along with Osawaru, 27.
Iyalekhue and Osawaru have been involved since 2016 in a series of romance, pandemic unemployment insurance and other online scams designed to defraud victims by convincing them to send money to accounts controlled by them.
They were caught when they began receiving unemployment benefits on their accounts in May 2020.
To carry out the scams, the defendants used false foreign passports in the name of other people, but with their photos, to open numerous bank accounts, and in turn ordered the victims to send money to these accounts.
Iyalekhue and Osawaru then quickly withdrew the victims’ money from various bank branches and ATMs, often multiple times during a single day.
The schemes included collecting unemployment insurance on behalf of others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The indictment statute provides a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $ 250,000 or twice the gross profit or loss, whichever is greater, and forfeiture.
The accused is also subject to deportation proceedings.
Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the US Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.
US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the Boston Field Division made the announcement.
Assistant United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case
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Posted by News Rangers
on Nov 23 2020. Filed under International, National.
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