Man jailed for phishing scam that targeted UK students to steal £1.5m

[Reefa]

Olajide Onikoyi laundered £393,000 from 238 victims in total, with one alone having £19,000 taken from their account.

A man has been jailed for nearly four years for his part in a phishing scam that targeted UK students to steal in excess of £1.5m.

Olajide Onikoyi, 29, of Hexagon Close, Blackley, Manchester, was among a number of criminals who targeted students by sending them emails inviting them to update details on their student loan account via a link to a bogus website.

When the site was accessed by the unsuspecting victims, Onikoyi was able to gain unauthorised access to their bank accounts and extract large amounts of money.

Onikoyi laundered £393,000 from 238 victims in total, with one alone having £19,000 taken from their account.

The scam was identified and Onikoyi was arrested following an operation by detectives from the now-disbanded Metropolitan police central e-crime unit.

As part of their inquiries, detectives worked closely with the banking industry, internet service providers and Student Loans Company, which said it regularly put out warnings about such scams.

"All students should be alert to these scams and remain vigilant to attempts to defraud them and steal their funds, particularly around payment times," Heather Laing, fraud prevention and detection manager at the Student Loans Company, warned.

"It is absolutely vital for students to protect themselves and their finances by keeping personal and account information safe. We will never request a customer to provide or confirm their account or banking details by email or text.

"This case and the sentence received has sent a clear message that the courts take fraud against the taxpayer very seriously."

When police seized Onikoyi's computer, they found chat logs from cyber crime forums that revealed he was conspiring with others from Russia, Lithuania and the UK in order to compromise computers and associated bank accounts.

The Nigerian national pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud UK financial institutions of £393,000 and money laundering on Tuesday before being sentenced at London's Southwark crown court to three years in prison for conspiracy to defraud and nine months for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Detective chief inspector Jason Tunn, of the Met's cyber crime unit, said: "My officers worked doggedly to secure Onikoyi's conviction. They examined numerous leads to identify members of this phishing gang, of which Onikoyi was a key member.

"He played a significant role in the scam by systematically targeting British students and UK financial institutions in order to steal large amounts of money that were then dispersed across numerous bank accounts.

"We've had a number of bank accounts and properties connected to Onikoyi restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act. This is now subject to a financial investigation."

A number of other people have also been jailed over the scam.

Source:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/14/man-jailed-phishing-scam-uk-students-olajide-onikoyi

[janedoe]

Honestly, what's with these Nigerians and their scams? Don't they have anything better to do over there? :huh: And how do so many of them get into this business anyway? I wonder if they have courses for this stuff!

[Zigen]

Honestly, what's with these Nigerians and their scams? Don't they have anything better to do over there? :huh: And how do so many of them get into this business anyway? I wonder if they have courses for this stuff!

You will be surprised. There are probably courses for such stuff over there. It's a lucrative business and scamming is very rampant in Nigeria and several African countries. It's a get rich scheme for many of the poor there who will do anything to get some money. I've seen a documentary on youtube about such stuff and there are like tons of scammers crowded in a room full of computers trying to scam people or steal credit card details etc.

These scammers have targeted millions of people around the world. You have probably received such emails before, like that you won 5 million dollars in a email lottery or that a rich african guy wants your help to transfer funds out of the country. Anyone in their right mind would know these are scams, unfortunately several thousands of people fall prey to such scams every year, and the international police reckon billions of dollars are scammed away every year in such schemes.

Just remember, always avoid such scams and make sure you have at ;least a working and good anti virus to detect phising websites

[dMog]

Honestly, what's with these Nigerians and their scams? Don't they have anything better to do over there? :huh: And how do so many of them get into this business anyway? I wonder if they have courses for this stuff!

time was it letters in the mail from Nigeria then it was phone calls then, as it is now emails and web sites