Nigerian Man Sentenced to 26+ Years in Real Estate Phishing / Spoofing Scheme
A Nigerian man was sentenced today to more than 26 years in prison for conning prospective homeowners and others out of down payments using a “man-in-the-middle” email phishing and spoofing attack, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Kolade Akinwale Ojelade, a 34-year-old Nigerian national living abroad in Leicester, was indicted in February 2023. He was extradited from the U.K. to the U.S. in April 2024 and three months later pleaded guilty to wire fraud affecting a financial institution and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to 292 months on the wire fraud count and 24 months on the identity theft count to run consecutively for a total of 316 months in federal prison. Judge O’Connor also ordered him to pay $3,386,908 in restitution.
“Even the most conscientious among us could get taken in by a man-in-the-middle scam as devious as this one. Luckily, there are steps we can take to protect ourselves, including confirming wiring instructions in person or by phone,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “For the next quarter-century, Mr. Ojelade will be behind bars, no longer able to scam innocent homebuyers. We are proud to hold him accountable for his crimes.”
“Mr. Ojelade callously engaged in a scheme that stole millions of dollars from prospective homeowners and real estate companies. Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of his crimes. Financial crimes can be devastating for individuals and companies because most times those monetary funds are never recovered,” said P.J. O’Brien, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Division. “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners domestically and internationally to hold individuals accountable for defrauding unsuspecting victims.”
According to court documents, Mr. Ojelade sent phishing emails to real estate businesses, gained unauthorized access to many of their accounts, and monitored their email traffic to determine when large transactions were about to take place. He then intercepted wire payment instructions, changed the information, and resent the emails via spoofed email addresses that mimicked the original senders’ addresses.
Unbeknownst to the victims – including prospective homeowners wiring money to real estate companies and real estate companies wiring money to title companies – the modified wiring instructions directed them to accounts controlled by Mr. Ojelade and his co-conspirators. Once the funds hit the accounts, Mr. Ojelade and his coconspirators withdrew the money or transferred it into other bank accounts.
At Mr. Ojelade’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors noted that the intended loss was more than $100 million and the actual loss was approximately $12 million.
After serving his sentence, Mr. Ojelade will be subject to deportation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation, with substantial assistance from FBI International Operations at Mission U.K., United Kingdom authorities, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Mr. Ojelade from the United Kingdom. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht is prosecuting the case.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises prospective homeowners to confirm wiring instructions – including account numbers – in person or by phone, and instructs anyone who believes they may have fallen victim to a scam to call their banks as soon as possible to ask for a wire recall.
