Framingham man has been sentenced for his role in a federal email spoof case

BOSTON — A Framingham man has been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison after he was convicted of wire fraud in connection with a complicated email scam, authorities said.

U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV on Friday also ordered Gustaf Njei, 27, to pay $94,630 in restitution and placed him on two years of supervised release after being released from prison.

In December, a federal jury convicted Njei of two counts of wire fraud and one count each of structuring to avoid reporting requirements, unlawful monetary transactions and money laundering conspiracy.

According to authorities, Njei ran a business email compromise scheme, which targets businesses involved in wire transfer payments. According to the U.S Department of Justice, the fraud occurs when someone spoofs a legitimate business email and causes employees of the company to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.

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Authorities said Njei and an undisclosed number of co-conspirators hacked into various email accounts, spoofed them and tricked victims into wiring funds to a bank account under Njei's control. He then sent some of the money to bank accounts in other countries and split the remaining funds with his co-conspirators.

“Since June 2016, victims have lost over $43 billion to BEC fraud schemes just like the one Mr. Njei and his co-conspirators engaged in," said U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins, in a statement. "The network of online criminals targeting victims is growing every day and their tools are getting more sophisticated. This sentence should send a clear message to scammers that they will be identified and held accountable. Mr. Njei knew he was engaging in a devastating fraud scheme, but all that mattered to him was lining his pockets with proceeds stolen from unwitting innocent victims. This sentence holds him accountable, and we will make sure that the restitution the court ordered gets to his victims.”

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham man sentenced in federal email spoof scam