A Nigerian national who targeted American tax businesses from overseas has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Chukwuemeka Amachukwu targeted tax-preparation firms in New York, Texas and other states as part of a scheme that sought more than $8 million in fraudulent refunds.
The sentence was announced Monday by the U.S. Attorney SDNY
, which posted that Amachukwu was sentenced to eight years for hacking, fraud and identity-theft schemes. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said in the announcement that Amachukwu believed he was operating safely offshore when he targeted his victims, but has now been held to account and faces a serious sentence for his crimes.
According to CyberScoop, the 39-year-old was extradited from France to the United States and appeared in a New York district court on hacking, wire-fraud and identity-theft charges. Prosecutors alleged Amachukwu and Nigeria-based co-conspirators obtained about $2.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds between 2019 and 2023, while seeking at least $8.4 million total, the outlet reported.
Spearphishing Emails Opened the Door
The scheme allegedly began with spearphishing emails sent to employees at tax-preparation businesses, giving the conspirators access to internal computer systems, per the same account. In May 2021, members of the conspiracy allegedly sent a spearphishing email to an employee of a New York tax-preparation business, infecting its systems with malware, the report states. Once inside those systems, the group allegedly filed false tax returns using stolen identities to claim fraudulent refunds.
The fraud reportedly didn't stop at tax season. Authorities alleged that Amachukwu and his co-conspirators also used stolen identities to obtain at least $819,000 through fraudulent Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan claims, according to CyberScoop's reporting. The article notes that pandemic-era relief programs were folded into the same network of stolen identities used in the tax-refund scheme.
A Separate Investment Scam, Too
Beyond the hacking and loan fraud, prosecutors say Amachukwu took part in an entirely separate scheme. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Amachukwu allegedly took part in a separate fraud scheme that promised his victims valuable investments that did not in fact exist, siphoning away additional money from people who believed they were putting their savings into legitimate opportunities, per the same report.
All told, Amachukwu faced charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire-fraud conspiracies, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft — charges that carried up to 47 years in prison, CyberScoop reported at the time.
Extradited From France
Amachukwu was extradited from France to the United States.
The case adds to a string of similar prosecutions out of the Southern District of New York. Kingsley Uchelue Utulu was sentenced to more than five years in a comparable hacking, fraud and identity-theft scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York. No statements from Amachukwu, his attorney, or identified victims were included in the available records.
