Nigerian Residing in South Africa Sentenced to 7.5 Years in US Prison for Multimillion-Dollar Email Fraud Scheme

A Nigerian national, James Junior Aliyu, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in a US federal prison for his involvement in a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) scheme that defrauded victims of millions of dollars.

Aliyu, who resided in South Africa during the conspiracy, was extradited to the United States to face charges.

He was the last of three Nigerian defendants to plead guilty in the case, which operated from at least February to July 2017. The scheme targeted business email servers to redirect legitimate payments to accounts controlled by the criminals.

Court documents show Aliyu directly controlled approximately $1.2 million in illicit proceeds. As part of his sentence, he faces a $1.2 million forfeiture order and must pay $2.4 million in restitution to victims. Upon completing his prison term, he will be removed from the United States.

The investigation highlighted strong international cooperation, involving Homeland Security Investigations agents from Maryland and South Africa, US prosecutors, and South African authorities. The case is part of broader US efforts to combat transnational cyber-enabled fraud.