5 accused of cyber crimes targeting multiple companies, employees

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Five men face criminal charges for alleged cyber crimes targeting workers at companies throughout the nation in the U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday unveiled the criminal charges against Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, 23; Noah Michael Urban, 20; Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20; Joel Martin Evans, 25; and Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22.

"This group of cyber criminals perpetrated a sophisticated scheme to steal intellectual property and proprietary information worth tens of millions of dollars and steal personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of individuals," Central California U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Wednesday in a DOJ news release.

"Phishing and hacking has become increasingly sophisticated and can result in enormous losses," Estrada said. "If something about the text or email you received or a website you're viewing seems off, it probably is."

The five each are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. Buchanan, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom, also is charged with wire fraud.

"The defendants allegedly preyed on unsuspecting victims in this phishing scheme and used their personal information as a gateway to steal millions in their cryptocurrency accounts," said Akil Davis,assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office.

"These types of fraudulent solicitations ... rob American victims of their hard-earned money with the click of the mouse," Davis said.

The indictments against the five defendants accuses them of sending text messages to the employees of targeted companies from at least September 2021 to April 2023.

The text messages claimed to be from officials at respective companies or their authorized contractors and often said the workers would lose access to their work accounts.

The messages included links to phishing websites that mimicked the legitimate sites of respective companies and lured workers to provide their login credentials and other confidential information.

The defendants allegedly used to information to access the accounts of respective company employees to steal confidential information and work products, intellectual property and personal identifying information.

The defendants also allegedly used the information to access individuals' cryptocurrency accounts and wallets to cryptocurrency worth millions of dollars.

The DOJ press release says the defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

Each faces up to 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to five years for conspiracy and consecutive two-year sentences for aggravated identity theft.

Buchanan also faces up to 20 years in prison for the alleged wire fraud charge.