Oladeji Nathaniel Adelekan, aka “Djzle,” 28, of Lagos, Nigeria, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count each of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to access a protected computer in furtherance of fraud, unauthorized access of a computer with intent to defraud, and money laundering conspiracy.
Between February 2019 and April 2020, Adelekan and his conspirators are suspected of tricking corporate employees into transferring company funds to bank accounts the conspirators controlled, according to court records.
In April 2019, the conspirators sent a phishing email to an email account controlled by the pharmaceutical company, according to court records. In the attack, once an employee clicked on a link in the email, the company’s email system was compromised, and hackers diverted emails sent to the company’s compromised email account to an email account they controlled. Pulling information from the emails they had diverted, Adelekan and his conspirators spoofed other email accounts at the pharmaceutical company and its supplier.
In May 2019, using the supplier’s spoofed email account, the conspirators are suspected of directing the pharmaceutical company to send a $7.5 million wire transfer to a bank in Mexico for the purported benefit of the supplier to satisfy an outstanding invoice, but which wire transfer actually went to a bank account controlled by the conspirators, according to court records.
In January 2020, the coconspirators are charged with using similar tactics to obtain access to an email account of the Oregon technology firm.
The hackers then diverted business emails from that email account to an email account they controlled, according to court records. In April 2020, the conspirators caused an employee of the Oregon technology firm to execute a $130,000 wire transfer to a bank account in Hong Kong, another bank account controlled by Adelekan and his conspirators, officials said.
The conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud charges each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. The conspiracy to commit unauthorized access of a computer and unauthorized access of a computer each carry up to five years in prison. The count of money laundering conspiracy carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. All of the charges carry a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross loss or gain caused by the offense, whichever is greatest.