Internet fraud: US court sends Nigerian Dele Ewe to 70 months in prison for fraud

Bamidele Muraina did not become the last Nigerian to be jailed in the United States for manipulating official documents to defraud trade.

Muraina, 35, gets seventy months in the US federal prison for unemployment fraud and tax evasion.

US District Judge William M. Ray II sentenced Nigeria and her accomplice, Gabriel Kalembo, from Zambia.

Known as Dele Ewe to friends, Muraina is pulling money from programs created by the U.S. government to help U.S. workers and families try to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).

According to the Ministry of Justice Bamidele Muraina tif up to $ 2.6 million thanks to hacking.

Prosecutors say I am starting to successfully hack the website of US unemployment insurance agencies.

The investigation also reveals that the Nigerian is using a Zambian friend, Gabriel Kalembo, to launder money.

“Bamidele Muraina has engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the Washington State Department of Job Security (” ESD-WA “) by filing dozens of fraudulent Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims on behalf of victims of identity theft who were not entitled to such benefits.

As part of the same plot, Gabriel Kalembo and his conspirators launder UI benefits illegally obtained from ESD-WA by buying and later negotiating hundreds of money orders.

“These shameless criminals are tiffing hard-earned tax returns and money meant to help families during the pandemic,” Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger, who oversees Homeland Security investigation operations (HSI) for Georgia and Alabama.

As part of the sentencing, the judge ordered Muraina to pay $ 561,125.62 in restitution.

Bamidele is not the first Nigerian to go to prison for egg fraud in the United States, for February 2021, an American court sentences the Nigerian, Obinwanne Okeke, wey pipo sabi as “Invictus Obi” to 10 years in prison for implication in a Wey dem computer intrusion fraud program say the cause reaches $ 11 million in losses for im victims.

Popular Nigerian Anoda wey im similar affair to Okeke Clean, wey still dey short, and Ramoni Igbalode aka Hushpuppi.

International Police (Interpol) and FBI arrest Hushpuppi on Wednesday June 10, 2020 for the United Arab Emirates over a $ 35 million fan scam.