Man Pleads Guilty To Phishing Scheme Against Groton Schools: Feds

GROTON, CT — A 36-year-old citizen of Nigeria last residing in Smyrna, Ga., pleaded guilty Thursday to a conspiracy charge stemming from a phishing scheme against school employees in Connecticut and elsewhere, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut John H. Durham announced in a release.

Olukayode Ibrahim Lawal pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, Durham said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 14, 2019.

According to court documents, special agents from the FBI’s cybercrime squad in New Haven and the IRS have been investigating phishing emails that were sent to various school districts in Connecticut last year. (To sign up for Groton breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

In March 2017, a Groton Public Schools employee received an email that appeared to be sent by another Groton school system employee, which contained a request to send W-2 tax information for all employees of the school system, Durham said.

The recipient of the email responded by sending copies of the W-2 information for approximately 1,300 Groton Public Schools employees. After the information was emailed, approximately 100 suspicious Forms 1040 were filed electronically with the IRS in the names of victims of the Groton phishing scheme, Durham said.

"The 100 tax returns claimed refunds totaling $491,737," Durham said in a release. "Approximately three of the returns were processed, and $23,543 in fraudulently-obtained funds were electronically deposited into various bank accounts. The other returns were not processed because they were suspected of being fraudulent."

According to Durham, the accused allegedly controlled or used certain email accounts involved in this phishing scheme. A co-conspirator of the accused sent personal identifying information, including names and Social Security Numbers, of at least 10 employees to an email account that he used. The accused then allegedly sent the victims’ personal identifying information to another co-conspirator.

The investigation further revealed that Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden was victimized by a phishing e-mail that requested W-2 forms for its employees in February 2017.

"Approximately 103 employee W-2 forms were compromised as a result of phishing e-mail," Durham said. "The IRS confirmed that 33 victims had fraudulent tax returns filed electronically with the IRS, claiming refunds in the amount of $314,184. The returns were not processed because they were suspected of being fraudulent."

Durham said the accused entered the U.S. on a visitor’s visa on Nov. 24, 2016, and failed to depart on his scheduled departure date of Dec. 1, 2016. He has been detained since his arrest on May 9.

Durham thanked the FBI and IRS in Atlanta, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, for their valuable assistance in this matter.

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