Nigeria national, Obinwanne Okeke better known as Invictus, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by US court.
Okeke was sentenced by the Chief District Judge, Rebecca Smith on Tuesday for his involvement in a computer-based intrusion fraud scheme that caused approximately $11m.
The announcement was made known by the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Raj Parekh, and Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office.
According to Raj Parekh, Okeke through subterfuge and impersonation engaged in a global business email and computer hacking scheme. A scheme he used in targeting Unatrac Holding Limited, an export sales company for Caterpillar heavy industrial and farm equipment.
However, Brain Dugan added that the FBI will not allow cybercriminals to reign free in the digital world to prey on U.S. companies.
Stating that this sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to working with our partners at the Department of Justice and our foreign counterparts to locate cybercriminals across the globe and bring them to the United States to be held accountable.”
In April 2018, a Unatrac executive fell prey to a phishing email that allowed conspirators to capture login credentials.
Okeke who sent fraudulent wire transfer requests also attached fake invoices in victimizing Unatrac totaling nearly $11 million, which was transferred overseas.
Additionally, Okeke engaged in other forms of cyber fraud, including sending phishing emails to capture email credentials, creating fraudulent web pages, and causing other losses to numerous victims.
He also obtained and compiled the credentials of hundreds of victims, including victims in the Eastern District of Virginia.
According to court documents, Obinwanne Okeke, 33, operated a group of companies known as the Invictus Group based in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Thank you for taking your time in reading through our Journal Today. We wish to always provide you with qualitative Stories as far as GOOD-JOURNALISM is CONCERN. But good journalism costs a lot of money and only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, accountability democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism, we ask you to consider subscribing to our daily news updates.
