A Nigerian citizen, Farouk Adekunle Adepoju, has been arrested in the United Kingdom after a request from the United States for his extradition on charges of wire fraud and computer fraud exceeding $235,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Adepoju was detained by U.K. authorities on September 15, 2025, and is awaiting extradition to the United States, where he faces a seven-count indictment in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
He is accused of carrying out a cyber scheme that defrauded a Pennsylvania university of $235,266.80 between March and April 2023, according to Nairametrics.
Court filings allege that Adepoju gained unauthorized access to the email system of a construction company working on the university’s projects.
He then allegedly created rule changes in an employee’s account, registered a spoofed domain, and impersonated another employee through email.
This deception is said to have misled university staff into updating payment details to Adepoju’s fraudulent bank account, resulting in the transfer of funds that have not been recovered.
“Adepoju is charged with using sophisticated cyber means to illegally access accounts belonging to a business in order to victimize one of our region’s universities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti.
“His arrest in the United Kingdom underscores our commitment to aggressively locate and prosecute cybercriminals worldwide,” he added.
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The FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, which led the investigation, described email compromise schemes as one of the costliest threats to businesses and institutions.
“We will find you and bring you to justice, no matter where you might be,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek.
Adepoju faces six counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and one count of computer fraud, which carries up to five years.
The actual sentence, if convicted, will depend on federal sentencing guidelines and his prior criminal history.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark V. Gurzo, with support from the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs.
This case follows a similar incident in August, when another Nigerian national, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu, was extradited from France to the United States to face charges of computer hacking, identity theft, and wire fraud schemes that allegedly defrauded U.S. tax authorities and other victims out of millions of dollars.
Amachukwu, who also used the aliases “Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo” and “So Kwan Leung,” appeared before Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger shortly after his arrival, and his case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.
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Image Credit: IntelRegion
