The city of Athens, Ohio, has recovered more than half of some $722,000 stolen in a 2024 cyber fraud scheme that impersonated an e-mail invoice from contractor Pepper Construction.
U.S. Attorney David Waterman in Iowa’s southern district has also brought criminal charges against Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, described as «members of the U.S. Air Force» stationed at the service’s base in Dover, Del., accusing them of cyber theft against more than one dozen victims, also noting that Athens could be added to the total if the fraud was found to be caused by them.
In November 2024, the city made a scheduled payment of $721,976 to Pepper for a new fire station. The hackers transposed the U and C in the word construction in a Pepper e-mail address and sent a link that rerouted the payment to themselves. Because Athens filed a lawsuit just days after the erroneous payment was made, the funds were able to be frozen in the Republic Bank account the hackers were using and, after making its case in mediation, was able to retrieve the remainder of what was in the account at the time.
Athens was able to secure $205,000 of the $349,522 that was still in the account, and also received $200,000 from an insurance claim, bringing the total recovery to $405,000.
Odimegwu and Mogaji were indicted in November by Waterman’s office In Iowa City, where other cyber crimes alleged in the indictment occurred.
The indictment accuses the men of a “business email compromise” fraud. It describes one of the alleged crimes, which involved using a fake email to redirect payment for a construction project in July 2024. The amount in that case was more than $1.6 million. The indictment identifies that victim as an unnamed architecture firm. Another victim is alleged to be an unnamed non-profit.
Athens officials were notified by the FBI field office in Iowa City that evidence uncovered in an investigation appears to link the city’s cyber theft to the cases alleged in the indictment. Athens is not named as a victim in that case, but has been told it could be added for purposes of restitution depending on the outcome. The case is scheduled for trial. The indictment alleges that the men monitored e-mails and waited to send a false e-mail address for the fraud as was detailed by Athens and its interactions with Pepper.
Construction has become a target-rich environment for hackers and cyber criminals because of the complicated web of transactions with payment and procurement requests coming from parties who often do not personally know each other on projects, particularly those in the public sector.
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