Bamidele Omotosho, a 42-year-old Nigerian national, has been sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison in the United States for engaging in cyber scams.
The U.S. District Judge William F. Jung pronounced the sentence following Omotosho's involvement in conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and computer intrusion.
Omotosho has been ordered to pay $2,051,108.70 in restitution to the victims of his offenses.
Court documents revealed that between 2017 and 2018, Omotosho, in collaboration with others, purchased stolen access credentials and personal identifying information (PII) of U.S. citizens, such as names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers, from the darknet criminal marketplace xDedic.
Omotosho and his accomplices utilized this stolen information to execute at least six fraudulent schemes, resulting in intended losses exceeding $7.5 million and actual losses exceeding $2 million.
The unlawful activities included hacking into the internet portal of the Employees Retirement System of Texas to divert retirement payments, unauthorized access to computer networks of accounting firms to obtain PII for filing fraudulent tax returns, identity theft, romance fraud, and business email compromise fraud against a pharmaceutical company resulting in a $250,000 loss.
Omotosho and his associates laundered their ill-gotten gains by depositing funds onto prepaid debit cards or into accounts opened using stolen PII.
Some funds were used to purchase used vehicles, which were exported to Nigeria for resale. Notably, xDedic, the criminal marketplace from which the stolen information was obtained, has been seized and shut down.
Omotosho was apprehended in the United Kingdom and extradited to the U.S. for prosecution.