DECATUR, September 23 — A Decatur woman will serve time behind bars for her part in a business email compromise scheme that drained more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars from an agricultural company, Georgia’s attorney general announced on September 21. Ogechi Urenna Udunka, 44, pleaded guilty the previous week in Gwinnett County Superior Court to two counts of theft by taking and two counts of money laundering.
A judge then sentenced her under the First Offender Act to ten years, with the first ninety days to be served in prison and the remainder on probation.
How the scheme worked
Prosecutors say the target was an agricultural company that believed it was paying an Oregon firm for strawberry seeds. Shortly after the deal was struck, the company received a payment request from an email address that looked extremely similar to the Oregon company’s — but was fraudulent. The money moved in two wire transfers, on June 15, 2021, and June 30, 2021.
Udunka received $158,000 across those transfers, according to authorities, then made multiple financial transactions designed to conceal where the cash had come from, disbursing funds to herself and others involved in the scheme. Business email compromise is a targeted form of cyber-enabled fraud.
A criminal sends a message that appears to come from a legitimate business source, then uses it to divert payments without providing anything in return. Officials say it hits companies of every size.
What the state says
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said his office’s White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit is leading the fight against cyber-enabled fraud and protecting businesses and consumers. He called it a growing threat, and said that is why the state has continued to pursue those who move stolen funds so a scam can be stopped in its tracks. Carr also pointed to education as key, encouraging all Georgians to learn how to recognize and report online fraud so they can better protect their data, network and devices.
His office handled the prosecution. Officials said anyone who believes they have fallen victim to a cyber fraud scheme should file a report with the appropriate financial provider, their local law enforcement agency, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3.
The case now moves into its probation phase, with Udunka’s sentence structured so most of the decade is served outside prison. What to watch next is whether Georgia’s white-collar unit brings further charges against the other people prosecutors say received disbursed funds.
