Nigerian Man Found Guilty in Cartridge Fraud Scheme

A Nigerian man has pleaded guilty in a computer hacking and identity theft scheme, which cheated vendors almost $1 million in office products, mainly printer toner cartridges.

According to SFGate, the federal prosecutors in New Jersey claimed that 30-year-old Abiodun Adejohn and his conspirators used fake e-mails and websites to imitate legal e-mails and web pages of U.S. government agencies.  “Agency employees visited the fake web pages and provided their e-mail account usernames and passwords. Adejohn and others used these stolen credentials to access the employees’ e-mail accounts. They then placed fraudulent orders for office products — typically printer toner cartridges —in the employees’ names from vendors authorized to do business with U.S. government agencies.”

After placing the order, Adejohn and his conspirators asked the vendors to ship the fraudulent orders to the assigned places, then they repacked the products and sold them on the black market for profit.

It is noted that Adejohn will face up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 9.