Accra, Ghana – Olusegun Samson Adejorin, a Nigerian citizen, has been apprehended in Ghana for his alleged involvement in a Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud amounting to $7.5 million. The announcement of Adejorin’s indictment was made by Erek L. Barron, the United States (US) Attorney for the District of Maryland, and Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.
The US authorities unsealed an eight-count federal grand jury indictment charging Adejorin with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized access to a protected computer. The indictment pertains to a scheme to defraud two charitable organizations by impersonating employees and gaining access to their email accounts.
Adejorin was arrested in Ghana on December 29, 2023, and is currently detained pending his initial appearance in Ghana, according to the statement released by the US Attorney’s office.
The indictment alleges that between June and August 2020, Adejorin executed a scheme to defraud Victim 1, a charitable organization in North Bethesda, Maryland, and Victim 2, a charitable organization in New York, New York. He gained access to employee email accounts and impersonated employees to induce financial transactions.
Adejorin purportedly posed as an employee of Victim 2 to request withdrawals of Victim 2’s funds from Victim 1, a charitable organization providing investment services to Victim 2. The withdrawals, exceeding $10,000, required approval from authorized individuals at Victim 1.
The indictment further details how Adejorin fraudulently obtained the credentials of employees at both Victim 1 and Victim 2. He posed as these employees to send emails making fraudulent requests for the withdrawal of investment funds. As part of the scheme, Adejorin allegedly purchased a credential harvesting tool designed to steal email login credentials and registered spoofed domain names.
The suspect also took measures to conceal fraudulent emails, moving them to an inconspicuous location within an employee’s mailbox. Adejorin is accused of causing over $7.5 million of Victim 2’s funds to be sent, pursuant to fraudulent withdrawal requests, to bank accounts not belonging to Victim 2.
If convicted, Adejorin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of the five wire fraud counts. He also faces a maximum of five years for unauthorized access to a protected computer, along with a mandatory two-year sentence for each of the two counts of aggravated identity theft. Moreover, the maximum penalty for two wire fraud counts could be increased by seven years for knowingly falsely registering and using a domain name.
