Idris Dayo Mustapha, a 33-year-old British-Nigerian, has acknowledged that he was the mastermind behind a complex cyber fraud scheme that lasted for seven years.
Mustapha was a major player in a hacking ring that targeted US corporate email and brokerage accounts between 2011 and 2018, causing significant losses that topped $6 million (£4.7 million). Mustapha had been under US authorities’ radar for a number of years. He could spend up to 20 years in prison for his crimes.
According to the BBC, Mustapha entered a guilty plea to four charges on Tuesday in a Brooklyn, New York court: computer intrusion, securities fraud, wire fraud, and access device fraud.
According to authorities, Mustapha and his group broke into US financial institutions’ computer servers to obtain private customer data, including personally identifiable information. They then transferred money and securities from their victims’ accounts to accounts they controlled using the passwords and information they had stolen. Additionally, they traded stocks using the compromised accounts without the account holder’s knowledge.
