Idris Dayo Mustapha, a British individual, recently pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to charges related to a sophisticated cybercrime spree that resulted in the theft of over $6 million from various victims. Mustapha faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison for his involvement in computer intrusion, securities fraud, wire fraud, and access device fraud, as disclosed by the Department of Justice.
From 2011 to 2018, Mustapha, in collaboration with unnamed co-conspirators, orchestrated a series of unlawful activities. These included siphoning funds from financial accounts via illicitly obtained login information through phishing attacks and hacking into U.S. financial institutions’ servers. The group exploited this access to scrutinize confidential user data and implant malicious files on the servers, eventually leading to fraudulent wire transfers and the misappropriation of securities from brokerage accounts. The cybercriminal operation extended beyond financial fraud. Mustapha and his partners created fake online personas under aliases like “Melanie Saunders” and “Tracy Ben” to establish fraudulent “drop” accounts. Leveraging these personas, they gained victims’ trust, convincing them to deposit checks and transfer money on their behalf. Besides his illicit cyber activities, Mustapha was also recognized for his involvement in an Afrobeat music group and was identified as part of the music scene under the moniker “Drizzle Lomo.”
His cybercrime journey intertwined with his pursuit of an education in information communication technology at the University of Bradford in the UK, as reported by Nigerian publication The Guardian.
