U.S. authorities announced that Farouk Adekunle Adepoju was arrested by U.K. law enforcement on September 15, 2025, following a request from the United States.
A Nigerian citizen living in the United Kingdom has been arrested and faces extradition to the United States on charges of wire fraud and computer fraud linked to a scheme that defrauded a Western Pennsylvania university of more than $235,000.
U.S. authorities announced that Farouk Adekunle Adepoju was arrested by U.K. law enforcement on September 15, 2025, following a request from the United States.
He has been indicted on six counts of wire fraud and one count of computer fraud in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
According to the unsealed indictment, Adepoju allegedly gained unauthorized access to a construction company’s computer system between March and April 2023.
The company was working for the university when Adepoju manipulated email accounts, created a spoofed domain, and posed as a company employee.
Using fraudulent emails, he convinced the university to redirect payments to a bank account he controlled, leading to the loss of $235,266.80, which has not been recovered.
The statement said, “Adepoju used this unauthorized access to create rule changes within the email account of an employee with the construction company, and then registered a spoofed domain and spoofed email account to assume the identity of another employee of that company.
“From that spoofed email account, Adepoju sent fraudulent emails to employees of the university, requesting that they update the construction company’s payment information to a fraudulent bank account.
“Relying upon the emails, the university updated the payment information to the fraudulent bank account that Adepoju provided and sent a payment of approximately $235,266.80 to that account, funds that the university has not recovered.”
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti, said, “Adepoju is charged with using sophisticated cyber means to illegally access accounts belonging to a business in order to victimize one of our region’s universities.
“Even from halfway across the world, however, Adepoju was not beyond the investigative reach of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His arrest in the United Kingdom underscores our district’s unwavering commitment to aggressively locate and prosecute cybercriminals worldwide with the assistance of our law enforcement partners—both here and abroad.”
FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek stated, “Criminals who think they can reach across the globe into the United States to line their pockets at the expense of the American public need know one thing: the FBI and our partners are not going to let you get away with it.
“We will find you and bring you to justice, no matter where you might be. Email compromise schemes are not victimless crimes; they are one of the costliest threats large and small businesses, universities, and organizations face today.”
Adepoju is charged with six counts of wire fraud and one count of computer fraud. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of up to 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud offenses and up to five years in prison for the computer fraud offense.
Meanwhile, under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
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