Nigerian Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A Nigerian man has admitted his role in a computer hacking and identity theft scheme that defrauded vendors out of nearly $1 million in office products.

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey say 30-year-old Abiodun Adejohn pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced Sept. 9.

Prosecutors say the scheme employed "phishing" attacks, which used fraudulent e-mails and websites that mimicked legitimate e-mails and web pages of U.S. government agencies.

Agency employees visited the fake web pages and provided their e-mail account usernames and passwords. Adejohn and others used these stolen credentials to access the employees' e-mail accounts.

They then placed fraudulent orders for office products -- typically printer toner cartridges --in the employees' names from vendors authorized to do business with U.S. government agencies.

Adejohn and his conspirators directed the vendors to ship the fraudulent orders to individuals in New Jersey and elsewhere to be repackaged and ultimately shipped to overseas locations the conspirators controlled. Once the orders were received in Nigeria, Adejohn and his conspirators sold the toner cartridges to another individual on the black market for profit.

Adejohn was arrested in Arizona last September.