Marietta man among several indicted by feds for involvement in cyber fraud scheme
Mar. 6—A Marietta man is among several defendants who have been indicted for their alleged roles in cyber fraud schemes, federal prosecutors announced.
Chigbogwu Nnamani, 53, was indicted in Gwinnett County last month for theft by taking in connection with his alleged participation in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
Nnamani was indicted after being investigated by the Georgia Cyber Fraud Task Force, which investigates cyber-enabled crimes, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan of the Northern District of Georgia.
In particular, the task force searches for so-called "money mules" — people who open U.S. bank accounts, which accept proceeds from fraud activities, and then forward them to other accounts, often overseas. Federal prosecutors say the money mules "act as a sort of contractor in the economy of cyber-enabled fraud, rather than the perpetrator interacting with a victim."
"Untangling the web of bank accounts associated with a single mule, and the victims who deposited money into those accounts, may require more than a year of law enforcement time and resources. But focusing investigative efforts on identifying and removing money mules from fraud operations makes it harder for fraudsters to direct victim funds into U.S. bank accounts," prosecutors said in a news release.
In the past year, the task force's investigations have resulted in two people being sentenced, one person being charged, and five people (including Nnamani) being indicted.
