• Nigerian man gets eight years in prison for hacking tax firms February 19, 2026 08:51 AM 0 A Nigerian national was sentenced to eight years in prison for hacking multiple tax preparation firms in Massachusetts and filing fraudulent tax returns seeking over $8.1 million in refunds. • 37-year-old Matthew Abiodun Akande was arrested in October 2024 at London’s Heathrow Airport and extradited to the United Statesin March 2025. • Hewas indicted by a federal grand juryin July 2022 before his arrest, while he was still living in Mexico. • According tocourt documents, after gaining access to the companies’ systems, Akande stole their clients’ personal information and used it to file over 1,000 fraudulent tax returns and collect more than $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds between June 2016 and June 2021. • To gain access to the targeted firms’ computer networks, Akande bought licenses forthe Warzone remote-access trojan malware(whose infrastructurewas seized by the FBIin February 2024) and encryption software known as a crypter to make the malware undetectable by antivirus solutions installed on the victims’ devices. • He then sent phishing emails impersonating the Chief Executive Officer of a Massachusetts architectural engineering company to four tax preparation firms, using a web domain and email account mimicking the CEO’s name to make the messages appear authentic.

Article Summaries:

  • A Nigerian national, 37‑year‑old Matthew Abiodun Akande, was sentenced to eight years in U.S. federal prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay nearly $1.4 million in restitution for hacking Massachusetts tax‑preparation firms. Akande, arrested in London in October 2024 and extradited in March 2025, had been indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 while living in Mexico. Using the Warzone remote‑access trojan and phishing emails that mimicked a company CEO, he infiltrated firms’ networks, stole client data, and filed over 1,000 fraudulent tax returns to obtain more than $8.1 million in refunds, of which about $1.3 million was collected.

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