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Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation
Home • Seeking Victim Businesses Email Compromise (BEC) Scheme

Seeking Victim Businesses Email Compromise (BEC) Scheme

Seeking Victim Businesses Email Compromise (BEC) Scheme

FBI Dallas is seeking to identify persons or businesses that may be victims of an alleged business email compromise (BEC) fraud scheme.

On May 10, 2023, a federal grand jury charged Kolade Akinwale Ojelade with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud affecting a financial institution, and aggravated identity theft in a 12-count indictment. The indictment alleges that Ojelade and his coconspirators devised a scheme to defraud companies, individuals, schools, government entities, and others by compromising victim email accounts and intercepting email communications with the intent to divert victim wire transactions to bank accounts controlled by Ojelade and his co-conspirators.

Ojelade and his co-conspirators used a number of different email accounts to carry out the scheme, including:

  • bate.build@gmail.com
  • robinsechrist002@gmail.com
  • gregthatcher46@gmail.com
  • dgoenzalez@gmail.com
  • richyjames051@gmail.com
  • admin@harrietdeck.com
  • info.files1@comcast.net
  • info.files1@xfinity.com
  • office.fld@comcast.net
  • donkayandkevin@gmail.com
  • donkay47@gmail.com
  • marciaaaberry@gmail.com

These email accounts may have been used in the scheme in one or more ways, such as:

  1. Creating unauthorized forwarding rules to automatically forward emails from a victim’s email account to the co-conspirators’ email account(s).
  2. Mimicking the display names of legitimate email accounts to trick victims into unwittingly communicating with the co-conspirators (often called “spoofing”).
  3. Altering legitimate wiring instructions so that a victim sends funds to the co-conspirators’ bank account rather than a legitimate bank account.

If you believe you or your business were a victim of this alleged fraud, please fill out this short form. The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes it investigates. Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and rights under federal and/or state law. Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information. All identities of victims will be kept confidential.

Resources
FBI: Business Email Compromise

Tips to Protect Yourself
The FBI requests victims report these types of fraudulent or suspicious activities to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.


Contact Information
Date of Birth
/ /  
4. Was a wire transaction directed to a fraudulent account because of the scheme? If yes, please answer question 5. If not, skip to question 6.


5. If yes, please provide the following (if available):

a. Wire Transaction Details:

i. Date
/ /  

b. Sending Bank Account Details:

c. Receiving Bank Account Details:

6. . Did you maintain records and documents related to scheme? Examples can include copies of fraudulent emails, fraudulent wire instructions, wire receipts, etc. If yes, would you be willing to provide copies of these records and documents to the FBI.


7. Did you submit an IC3 Complaint following the fraud?


Privacy Act Statement

The FBI is authorized to collect the information on this form by one or more of the following provisions: Title 28, United States Code, sections 533 and 534; Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, section 0.85; and the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance. The information requested will assist the FBI in providing you with assistance to which crime victims are entitled under federal law. You do not have to provide the requested information; however, failure to do so may hinder the FBI in providing you with crime victim assistance. The information collected on this form is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, Title 5, United States Code section 552a, and is maintained in the FBI’s Central Records System, DOJ/FBI-002, a description of which was published in the Federal Register at 63 Fed. Reg. 8671 (Feb. 20, 1998) and which may be viewed at www.justice.gov/opcl/doj-systems-records#doj