How Nigerian attempted to defraud 1,000 Americans of $8m – Report

A suspect

The United States Department of Justice has detailed how a Nigerian, Matthew Akande, attempted to defraud more than 1,000 Americans of $8.1m through a fraudulent tax return scheme.

PUNCH Metro learnt from a statement published on the department’s website on Thursday that Akande, who has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, successfully obtained about $1.3m in fraudulent tax refunds before the scheme was uncovered.

According to the statement, Akande, 37, was based in Mexico prior to his arrest at Heathrow Airport in October 2024.

The Department of Justice disclosed that between June 2016 and June 2021, Akande conspired with others to steal funds from the United States government by filing fraudulent tax returns using stolen personal information of taxpayers.

Investigations revealed that Akande and his accomplices obtained taxpayers’ personally identifiable information and prior-year tax records from Massachusetts-based tax preparation firms through phishing attacks and computer intrusions.

The statement read, “To carry out the scheme, Akande caused fraudulent phishing emails to be sent to five Massachusetts tax preparation firms. The emails purported to be from prospective clients seeking the firms’ services but were, in truth, used to trick the firms into downloading a remote access trojan, malicious software, including malware known as Warzone RAT.

“Akande used the RAT malware to obtain the PII and prior-year tax information of the firms’ clients, which he then used to file fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds. Punch