Student loan-themed phishing emails were sent to students

Dec 14, 2013 07:49 GMT  ·  By

29-year-old Nigerian national Olajide Onikoyi has been sentenced to a total of 45 months in prison in the United Kingdom. He got three years for conspiracy to defraud and 9 months for money laundering.

According to police, the man was involved in a phishing scam that targeted students from the UK. The personal and financial information stolen by the cybercrooks was used to steal over £1.5 million ($2.44 million / €1.78 million).

The fraudsters sent students fake emails that instructed recipients to update their loan account details. Victims were led to a bogus site where they had to enter the data.

Onikoyi is said to have laundered a total of £393,000 ($640,000 / €466,000) obtained from 238 victims.

Authorities determined that the Nigerian was part of the scheme after examining a number of computers and storage devices seized in December 2012. The man was arrested in January 2013.

Based on the information found on his computers, investigators determined that he was working with individuals from Russia, Lithuania and the UK. Onikoyi pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to defraud British financial institutions on December 10.

A total of 9 other individuals have been detained as part of this investigation. Four of them have already been sentenced. Four others were released without any action being taken against them.

“My officers worked doggedly to secure Onikoyi’s conviction. They examined numerous leads to identify members of this phishing gang, of which Onikoyi was a key member,” said Detective Chief Inspector Jason Tunn, of the MPS Cyber Crime Unit.

“He played a significant role in the scam by systematically targeting British students and UK financial institutions in order to steal large amounts of money that were then dispersed across numerous bank accounts," Tunn added.

“We’ve had a number of bank accounts and properties connected to Onikoyi restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act. This is now subject to a financial investigation.”