The United States is sanctioning six unnamed Nigerians for cyber crime targeting citizens of the United States, and businesses belonging to U.S nationals in their fraudulent activities.
According to the statement released on Wednesday 17th June 2020, by U.S Secretary Pompeo, while reacting to the alleged cyber crime by the six Nigerians, he said:
“the coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took action against six Nigerian nationals, pursuant to Executive Order 13694 as amended, for conducting an elaborate online scheme to steal more than $6 million from victims across the United States,” he said.
He added that:
“The six individuals designated today manipulated their victims to gain access to their sensitive information and financial resources.
The U.S. will not tolerate such gross misuse of technology. The United States will use all of the tools at our disposal to defend the American people and businesses from malign actors that seek to target them, including cyber-enabled actors who prey on vulnerable Americans and businesses.
Technological advancements that provide greater interconnectivity also offer greater opportunity for exploitation by malicious actors who target at-risk Americans”.