Nigerian Stole $800,000 Through Access To ‘Protected Company’- FBI

The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it has arraigned one Charles Onus (34) before a Manhattan federal court over allegations bordering on compromising the accounts of 5,500 Company users thereby diverting $800,000 to his prepaid debit cards, among other things.

This was revealed in a press release published on the US Justice Department website.

One of the prosecutors, U.S. Attorney, Audrey Strauss, alleged that Onus (a Nigerian national ) was engaged in the scheme from July 2017 but was traced and eventually arrested on April 14, 2021.

“Charles Onus allegedly participated in a scheme that stole nearly $1 million by hacking into a payroll processing company’s system to access user accounts and divert payroll to prepaid debit cards he controlled. As alleged, Onus did this as effectively as someone who commits bank burglary, but with no need for a blowtorch or bolt-cutters. Thanks to the FBI and IRS-CI, Onus is in custody and facing serious federal charges,” Strauss stated on Wednesday.

According to the prosecutors, the defendant is facing a 5-count charge which might land him in a 20-year concurrent jail term, if proven guilty by the court.

Based on the charges filed at the said court, Onus “was charged with one count of computer fraud for causing damage to a protected computer, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of computer fraud for unauthorized access to a protected computer to further intended fraud, and one count of receipt of stolen money, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.”