Framingham Man Sentenced To 2 Years In Email Scam Case

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A Framingham man was sentenced yesterday for his role in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Gustaf Njei, 27, was sentenced to over two years in prison and two years of supervised release. Njei was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $94,630.

In December 2022, Njei was convicted by a federal jury of two counts of wire fraud, one count of structuring to avoid reporting requirements, one count of unlawful monetary transactions and one count of money laundering conspiracy, officials said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Njei set up a bank account in the name of a fake business — “Njei Trading” — to receive the criminal proceeds of the scheme.

A BEC scheme is a "sophisticated scam" that often targets businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising or “spoofing” legitimate business email accounts "through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques" to cause employees of the victim company to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers, officials said.

Njei’s co-conspirators used hacked and spoofed email accounts to trick the victims of the scheme into wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank account under Njei’s control. Njei then transferred part of the funds to a bank account located overseas, while splitting the remaining funds with a co-conspirator in the United States.

“Since June 2016, victims have lost over $43 billion to BEC fraud schemes just like the one Mr. Njei and his co-conspirators engaged in. The network of online criminals targeting victims is growing every day and their tools are getting more sophisticated. This sentence should send a clear message to scammers that they will be identified and held accountable,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins.

“Mr. Njei knew he was engaging in a devastating fraud scheme, but all that mattered to him was lining his pockets with proceeds stolen from unwitting innocent victims. This sentence holds him accountable and we will to make sure that the restitution the court ordered gets to his victims.”