Man Sentenced to Jail for Involvement in Large-Scale Tax Refund Scam

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Nigerian National Sentenced to 8 Years for Tax Refund Scheme

A Nigerian national has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a large-scale tax refund scheme that targeted US tax preparation firms.

Charges and Conviction

Matthew Abiodun Akande, 37, pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges, including aggravated identity theft, theft of government money, wire fraud, and unauthorized access to protected computers.

According to court documents, Akande collaborated with at least four co-conspirators to breach the systems of US tax preparation firms and use stolen sensitive data to file over 1,000 fraudulent tax returns between 2017 and 2022.

The group’s tactics included phishing emails that tricked employees into installing remote access trojan malware, such as Warzone RAT, on their computers.

Scope of the Scheme

Once inside the targeted systems, the attackers used the stolen data to file false tax returns, seeking more than $8.1 million in refunds. The scheme ultimately generated over $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds, which were funneled into US bank accounts controlled by the attackers.

The investigation identified four Massachusetts-based tax preparation firms as victims, whose employees were targeted by the phishing emails.

Importance of Cybersecurity

Akande’s sentence reflects the severity of the crime, which exploited vulnerabilities in the tax preparation process to steal sensitive data and claim false refunds.

The conviction highlights the importance of robust cybersecurity measures in the tax preparation industry, particularly during tax filing season when attackers often seek to exploit vulnerabilities for financial gain.