A 37-year-old Nigerian, Matthew A. Akande, has been handed an eight-year prison sentence for masterminding a cyber fraud operation that targeted tax preparation firms and defrauded the United States government of more than $1.3 million.
The conviction was announced in a statement published on an official U.S. government website on Wednesday. Akande, who had been residing in Mexico prior to his arrest, was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in a federal court in Boston.
In addition to his prison term, he was ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after completing his sentence.
According to the statement, “A Nigerian national living in Mexico, who was extradited to the United States, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in a scheme to break into Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks and to file fraudulent tax returns.
“Matthew A. Akande, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to eight years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Akande was also ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution.”
Authorities disclosed that Akande was apprehended in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom at the request of U.S. officials and was extradited to the United States on March 5, 2025.
He had earlier been indicted in July 2022 by a federal grand jury on multiple counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, unauthorized access to protected computers, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft.
“Akande was arrested in October 2024 at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom at the request of the United States and extradited to the United States on March 5, 2025.
“Akande was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 with one count of conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud and to commit theft of government money and money laundering; one count of wire fraud; four counts of unauthorized access to protected computers in furtherance of fraud; 13 counts of theft of government money; and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft,” the statement further said.
Investigators revealed that between June 2016 and June 2021, Akande and his accomplices deployed phishing emails and malicious software to infiltrate the computer systems of five Massachusetts-based tax preparation firms.
The fraudulent emails, disguised as inquiries from prospective clients, were designed to trick recipients into installing remote access trojan malware, including a tool known as Warzone RAT.
“Between in or about June 2016 and June 2021, Akande worked with others to steal money from the United States government using taxpayers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to file fraudulent tax returns in the taxpayers’ names. The scheme also involved stealing taxpayers’ PII from Massachusetts tax preparation firms via phishing attacks and computer intrusions.
“To carry out the scheme, Akande caused fraudulent phishing emails to be sent to five Massachusetts tax preparation firms. The emails purported to be from a prospective client seeking the tax preparation firms’ services but in truth were used to trick the firms into downloading remote access trojan malicious software (RAT malware), including malware known as Warzone RAT,” the statement also said.
Using the compromised systems, the group accessed clients’ personal data and prior tax records, which they used to submit over 1,000 fraudulent tax returns claiming more than $8.1 million in refunds.
“Akande used the RAT malware to obtain the PII and prior year tax information of the tax preparation firms’ clients, which Akande then used to cause fraudulent tax returns to be filed seeking refunds.
“The tax returns directed that the fraudulent tax refunds be deposited in bank accounts opened by coconspirators in the United States. Once the refunds were issued, those coconspirators withdrew the stolen money in cash in the United States and then transferred a portion to third parties in Mexico, at Akande’s direction, while keeping a portion for themselves,” the statement continues.
Prosecutors said the scheme successfully resulted in more than $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds being paid into accounts controlled by co-conspirators in the U.S., who withdrew the funds and sent a share to contacts in Mexico at Akande’s instruction.
“In total, Akande and his coconspirators filed more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns seeking over $8.1 million in fraudulent tax refunds over approximately five years. They successfully obtained over $1.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds,” the statement added.
