On February 17, 2026, Matthew A. Akande, a 37-year-old Nigerian national, was sentenced to eight years in prison for masterminding a sophisticated cyber fraud scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of over $1.3 million.

Case Details

• The Scheme: Between June 2016 and June 2021, Akande and his co-conspirators targeted five Massachusetts-based tax preparation firms. They used phishing emails disguised as prospective clients to trick employees into downloading Warzone RAT (Remote Access Trojan) malware.
• Data Theft: The malware allowed the group to steal taxpayers’ personally identifiable information (PII) and prior-year tax records.
• Fraudulent Filings: Using the stolen data, they filed more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns, seeking over $8.1 million in refunds.
• Financial Impact: While they sought millions, they successfully obtained approximately $1.3 million, which was funneled through U.S. bank accounts and eventually transferred to third parties in Mexico.

Legal Outcome

• Sentencing: U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston sentenced Akande to 96 months (8 years) in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
• Restitution: Akande was ordered to pay $1,393,230 in restitution.
• Extradition: Akande, who was living in Mexico, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in October 2024 and extradited to the United States in March 2025.
• Charges: He pleaded guilty to 33 counts, including conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to protected computers, wire fraud, theft of government money, and aggravated identity theft.

Full details of the investigation were released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).