By 𝔸bdulrazak Tomiwa

A U.S. court sentenced 30-year-old Nigerian, James Junior Aliyu to 90 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

Extradited from South Africa to Maryland, Aliyu was the final defendant sentenced in a major international conspiracy.

The scheme involved Business Email Compromise (BEC), where Aliyu’s syndicate hacked business email accounts. They sent victims “spoofed” emails with fake wiring instructions, deceiving them into shifting massive payments into accounts controlled by the criminals.

To hide the stolen money, the group engaged in complex money laundering through “drop accounts.” They used cash withdrawals and cashier’s checks to mask the source of the funds, involving at least eleven defendants across related cases.

The Department of Justice revealed that Aliyu’s specific transactions targeted over $4.1 million in intended losses. Investigators confirmed an actual loss of $1.57 million, with Aliyu personally controlling nearly $1.2 million of the stolen proceeds.

Aliyu must now pay a $1.2 million forfeiture and $2.4 million in restitution to his victims. Following the completion of his seven-and-a-half-year prison term, the court ordered that he be officially deported from the United States.

This successful prosecution resulted from a global partnership between U.S. Homeland Security and South African authorities. Officials praised the international task force for securing the extraditions and dismantling the coordinated cyber-fraud network.