A Kenyan man pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving Ksh75 million from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in a computer phishing scheme in the US.
A computer phishing scheme is a fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Amis Hassan Raage will be sentenced before US District Judge, Gonzalo P. Curiel, on October 11, 2019, as reported by Nation.
Amis will be charged with conspiracy to commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Sections 1349.
The crime attracts a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison.
Raage and his co-conspirators perpetrated a similar scheme on another university in Pennsylvania which also redirected its Dell payments to a bank account in Minnesota again controlled by Raage.
In January 2018, the Pennsylvania University wired six payments totalling Ksh12,364,377 to Raage’s bank account before the university was alerted to the fraud and stopped payments.
After the bank froze Raage’s accounts, he fled to Kenya on September 22, 2018, but was arrested on May 7, 2019, and extradited back to the United States on May 23, 2019, to face prosecution for his involvement in the theft.
“Modern criminals like Raage have ditched the ski mask and getaway vehicle and opted for a computer as their weapon of choice,” said U.S. Attorney, Robert Brewer.
“As this defendant has learned, we are matching wits with new-age thieves and successfully tracking them down and putting an end to their high-tech deception.”
“As exemplified by this outstanding result, criminals who operate in cyberspace falsely believe themselves to be beyond the reach of law enforcement, but they are sorely mistaken,” FBI Special Agent-In-Charge, Scott Brunner, stated.
