Tax Preparer Hacker Sentenced to Eight Years
Chukwuemeka Amachukwu, a Nigerian national extradited from France, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison plus one year of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe. He pleaded guilty to fraud, hacking and identity theft charges and must pay restitution exceeding $3.6 million.
The Scheme
Beginning in 2019, prosecutors say Amachukwu led a group that used spearphishing emails to breach tax preparation businesses. They stole data on about 800 business customers and used it to file fraudulent state and federal tax returns.
- Refunds sought: about $8.4 million
- Refunds obtained: $2.5 million
- In a May 2021 incident, a phishing email to an employee of a Manhattan tax preparation firm installed malware
- The group also filed fraudulent claims with the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, collecting about $819,000
- Separately, Amachukwu earned more than $7 million posing as wealthy overseas businessmen and selling fake standby letters of credit to U.S. victims
Co-Conspirators
He worked with Kingsley Uchelue Utulu and other Nigeria-based hackers. Utulu was arrested in the UK and received a five-year prison sentence in June.
Takeaways for Tax and Accounting Firms
Tax preparers hold exactly the data needed for refund fraud and are targeted most heavily during filing season. Train staff on spearphishing, enforce MFA on tax software and email, restrict who can export client data, and follow IRS and FTC safeguards guidance for financial data.
Source: The Record.