Nigerian Hacker Nabs School Employee Tax Info in Glastonbury

GLASTONBURY/GROTON, CT — A Nigerian hacker has been arrested for trying to cash in on pillaged tax information on school employees in Glastonbury and Groton valued at nearly a million dollars.

And he managed to get away with it to an extent before authorities headed him off at the pass, authorities said.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, Patricia Ferrick, special agent in charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Joel Garland, special agent in charge of the IRS criminal investigation unit for New England, said on Friday that Daniel Adekunle Ojo, 33, a citizen of Nigeria residing in Durham, N.C., was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with fraud and identity theft offenses stemming from a "scheme to obtain the personal identifying information of school employees in Connecticut and elsewhere."

Following his arrest at his Durham residence, Ojo appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Greensboro, N.C., and was ordered detained pending his transfer to Connecticut, authorities said.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, special agents from the FBI’s cybercrime squad in New Haven and the IRS had been investigating “phishing” emails that were sent to various school districts in Connecticut earlier this year.

In February 2017, an employee of the Glastonbury Public Schools received an e-mail that appeared to be sent by another Glastonbury school system employee, according to the complaint. The email contained a request to send W-2 tax information for all employees of the school system, according to the complaint.

The recipient of the email responded by sending copies of the W-2 information for approximately 1,600 Glastonbury Public Schools employees, according to the complaint.

After the W-2 information was e-mailed, approximately 122 suspicious 1040 Forms were filed electronically with the IRS in the names of school employees, according to the complaint.

The 122 tax returns claimed tax refunds totaling $596,897, according to the complaint.

Approximately six of the returns were processed, and $36,926 in fraudulently-obtained funds were electronically deposited into various bank accounts, according to the complaint.

This investigation also includes phishing incidents with Groton Public Schools, and the Bloomington Independent School District in Minnesota, according to the complaint.

In Groton in March, a school system employee e-mailed copies of the W-2 information for approximately 1,300 employees, according to the complaint.

After the W-2 information was sent, approximately 66 suspicious 1040 Forms were filed electronically with the IRS in the names of Groton schools employees, according to the complaint.

The tax returns claimed refunds totaling $364,188, according to the complaint, but the fraudulent tax returns were not processed by the IRS because they were flagged as being part of an identity theft scheme and no money was released in connection with the returns.

The complaint alleges that Ojo entered the U.S. on a visitor’s visa in May 23, 2016, and failed to leave on his scheduled departure date of June 8, 2016.

“Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly cunning in exploiting technology to steal identifying information from unwitting victims,” Daly said. “Fortunately, our cyber investigators are skilled at cracking these crimes and catching these fraudsters. "

Said FBI Special Agent in Charge Ferrick, “This case is particularly disturbing due to the methods used and the targeted victims.

“Investigating identity theft and refund fraud is a top priority for IRS Criminal Investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Garland.

The complaint charges Ojo with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and aggravated identity theft, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of at least two years, Daly said.

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