
Opara, 29, and a partner were arrested in South Africa in
December 2016 and extradited to the US from Johannesburg in January of
this year.
According to the New York FBI’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrimes Unit, he allegedly cooked up business email scams that targeted thousands of companies worldwide.
In these scams, Opara and fellow conspirators pretended to
be supervisors at the target companies or third-party vendors, and
emailed company employees requesting payments or information.
The emails, however, were sent from accounts with domain
names very similar to those of the companies or vendors, or accounts
whose metadata had been changed so it seemed like the emails were coming
from a familiar address.
Once victims transferred funds, investigators say Opara
quickly sucked them away to other bank accounts controlled by him and
his partners. Investigators estimate that he attempted to steal $25
million in this way.
In a separate scam, Opara created a dating profile, posing as a young, attractive woman called “Barbara.”
Striking up relationships with men online, “Barbara” would convince them to send money overseas to accounts Opara controlled.
One victim transferred $600,000 to “Barbara”--money which landed in the bank accounts of Opara’s co-conspirators.
In addition to his five-year sentence, Opara has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
“The global reach of our office and the FBI ensured that
Opara will serve time in the United States for his crimes,” said Berman.
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