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Gustaf Njei, of Framingham, was sentenced to pay almost $95,000 in restitution on top of two years in prison and two years of supervised release on Friday, March 10 for convictions relating to an email-based fraud scheme that netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to US District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV.
Njei created a fake business called "Niej Trading" to operate a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) scheme, the district attorney's office said.
BEC schemes work by compromising or "spoofing," legitimate business email accounts to get victims to wire funds to the scammer's accounts using social engineering or computer intrusion techniques.
With the help of co-conspirators, Niej tricked victims into wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank account under Niej's control. Niej would then transfer part of the funds to an overseas bank account and split the remaining money with a US-based co-conspirator.
Niej's sentencing followed his December 2022 conviction of the following charges:
- Two counts of wire fraud
- One count of structuring to avoid reporting requirements
- One count of unlawful monetary transactions
- One count of money laundering conspiracy
"Since June 2016, victims have lost over $43 billion to BEC fraud schemes just like the one Mr. Njei and his co-conspirators engaged in," said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. "Mr. Njei knew he was engaging in a devastating fraud scheme, but all that mattered to him was lining his pockets with proceeds stolen from unwitting innocent victims."
Niej was convicted in Assistant U.S. Attorneys William B. Brady and Benjamin A. Saltzman of Rollins’ Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
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