A 49-year-old Nigerian, Anthony Oshodi, and four other persons have been convicted of hacking into an e-mail account and attempting to steal over £3 million from a London businessman.
They were convicted on Wednesday at Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom following a five-month trial.
Oshodi was found guilty of one count of money laundering, one count of possession of a false identify document and three counts of possession of articles for use in fraud.
The court convicted Oshodi in absence after he fled three weeks into the trial.
Others involved are Foyjul Islam, 51; Mohammed Siddique, 32; Mohammed Rafeek, 34; and Meharoof Muttiyan, 35.
They will be due for sentencing on Friday.
Metropolitan Police Service’s Cyber Crime Unit found out in its four-year investigation that the suspects defrauded their victims by altering their email accounts, enabling them to send emails without their victims’ knowledge and preventing their victims from viewing messages from their accountant and bank.
Between January 8 and 13, 2015, approximately £1.3 million was transferred into three accounts, one of which belonging to 35-year-old Meharoof Muttiyan.
In total, the gang took more than £3 million from the victim’s accounts.
Detectives managed to identify each suspect through the examination of banking, phone and computer records.
