August 19, 2017

Nigerian woman jailed 11 years for tax fraud in Texas

Nigerian woman jailed 11 years for tax fraud in the United States

A Nigerian woman, Smith Olusola Akin resident in Texas, United States is set to serve 10 years in a U.S. prison for her conviction in a $1.2 million stolen identities scam.

She was accused of using tax refunds to buy and ship hundreds of used cars to Nigeria.
She was convicted of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit theft of public funds, access device fraud and wire fraud.

Tax fraud is a big deal in the United States

Prosecutors say some victims were in prison when their personal information was stolen.

Officials say she and others, since 2012, used bogus tax refunds to buy and export nearly 280 vehicles to Nigeria.

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

In a related development, a Nigerian hacker that defrauded businesses in the US and elsewhere of about $6.5 million has been jailed for 51 months by a New York federal judge.

The hacker, Obinna Obioha, was sentenced by US District Judge David N. Hurd for running a scheme in which he instructed hackers to hack into computers and email accounts of individuals around the world using malicious software.

The 31-year-old man as part of his guilty plea to wire fraud in April 2017, Obioha admitted that, while in Nigeria, he worked with and instructed others to hack into computers and email accounts used by dozens of victims in the United States and around the world.

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