A 29-year-old man has been jailed for his part in a sophisticated phishing scam that targeted hundreds of UK students, using their compromised data to steal in excess of £1.5 million.
Olajide Onikoyi was among a number of cyber criminals who targeted students by sending them emails inviting them to update details on their student loan account via a link to a bogus website.
A computer seized by police during a raid on Onikoyi's house in Manchester recovered chat logs from cyber crime forums. These revealed Onikoyi was conspiring with others from Russia, Lithuania and the UK in order to compromise computers and associated bank accounts.
Onikoyi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud UK financial institutions of £393,000 and money laundering and has been sentenced to three years in prison for his part in the scam, which in total netted £1.5 million in stolen funds.