Nigerian national, James Junior Aliyu, jailed in US over $4.1m wire fraud

James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian national, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the United States for his role in a $4.1 million wire fraud and money laundering scheme.

In a statement released on Saturday, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Aliyu was also ordered to forfeit $1.2 million and pay $2.4 million in restitution to his victims.

The agency added that he would be deported after completing his prison sentence.

Aliyu was arrested in July 2022 by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), with support from the South African Police Service (SAPS), in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Authorities said he was part of a cybercrime network involved in phishing, internet fraud, and money laundering operations targeting dozens of victims in the United States.

Following his extradition to the US, Aliyu pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him.

Eight of his co-conspirators, all based in the US, also pleaded guilty in separate but related cases before a District Court in Maryland.

According to prosecutors, the group gained unauthorised access to email accounts belonging to individuals and businesses between February and July 2017.

They then sent “false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails — accounts associated with forged sender addresses — to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by the scheme’s perpetrators”.

Prosecutors said Aliyu was directly linked to at least $4,162,211 in fraudulent transactions.