Instagram star gets 11 years for $300m BEC conspiracy • The Register – TheRegister.

An international cyber-scammer and Instagram star who plotted to launder more than $300 million over the course of 18 months was this week jailed – and he must pay back more than $1.7 million to his victims.  Nigerian-born Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, 40, also known as Ray Hushpuppi, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and will spend 11 years and three months behind bars in the United States for his role in multiple online fraud sprees. Abbas and his pals used business email compromise (BEC) attacks to steal money from a number of companies around the world, as well as private individuals, and even an unnamed English Premier League football club.  BEC attacks come in various forms. They typically involve hijacking legitimate email accounts, or impersonating legit accounts, to send out bogus invoices and fool marks into sending wads of money to crooks. The recipients are usually (but not always) finance staff at companies, and the senders may appear to be the employees’ superiors (such as the CEO or CFO) or suppliers wanting payment. In fact, the victims are wiring money to fraudsters. BEC can also be used to obtain sensitive data – such as employment records from HR departments – that can
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