A Nigerian man, Oludayo Adeagbo, pleaded guilty to defrauding a North Carolina university out of US$1.9 million through a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam. Adeagbo was extradited from the United Kingdom in August 2022 to face charges brought by federal prosecutors in Charlotte.
According to court documents, he conspired with his co-defendant, Donald Ikenna Echeazu (also extradited), and others, to defraud the university of over Us$1.9 million between August 2016 and January 2017 by impersonating a construction company involved in a university building project.
The scammers researched ongoing construction projects and created a fake domain with a similar name to a legitimate company. Using this fake domain and spoofed email addresses, they contacted university personnel and sent fraudulent invoices requesting urgent payments.
Unaware of the deception, university staff unknowingly transferred funds to accounts controlled by the scammers. The scheme unravelled after a university employee flagged a suspicious invoice, leading to an investigation and the eventual identification of Adeagbo and his associates.
“Adeagbo remains in federal custody. At sentencing, he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison on each count,” a court document published by Peoples Gazette noted.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
