Last week, a man from Framingham, Massachusetts was handed a term for his participation in a scam known as business email compromise (BEC).
A sentence of 27 months in prison and two years of supervised release was handed down to Gustav Njei by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court, F. Dennis Saylor IV. In addition, the court mandated that Njei make restitution in the sum of $94,630.
Njei was found guilty by a federal jury in December 2022 on two counts of wire fraud, one count of structuring to avoid reporting requirements, one count of unlawful monetary transactions, and one count of money laundering conspiracy. In addition, Njei was found guilty of one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Prosecutors claim that Njei established a bank account in the name of a fictitious company that went by the name “Njei Trade” in order to receive illegal revenues from a BEC scam. The victims of the scam were duped by Njei’s co-conspirators into transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank account that was controlled by Njei. The co-conspirators utilized stolen and faked email accounts to deceive the victims. Njei then divided the remaining cash with a co-conspirator who was situated in the United States. The remainder of the funds were moved to an account that was located outside of the United States.
According to statements made by United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins, victims of BEC fraud schemes precisely like the one that Njei and his co-conspirators engaged in have lost over $43 billion since June 2016. She mentioned that thieves operating online are becoming more sophisticated.
