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From the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jacob Ponle, age 31, designed his social engineering program. In 2019, he collaborated with accomplices on many corporate email compromise schemes that preyed on gullible workers of target firms.
He and his cyber-gang employed a virus phishing links to break into email accounts, which were then used to create “false instructions directing employees of the victim companies to wire money to bank accounts opened by money mules at Ponle’s direction,” according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which announced the sentence.
What Was Behind the Attack
It said, “The fake emails frequently gave the impression that they were from the firm or a well-known business contact and were almost identical to earlier authentic emails received using the company’s email account.
Ponle, a.k.a. “Mr. Woodberry” and “Mark Kain,” were able to defraud US companies out of more than $8 million as a consequence. He then gave that money to his hired money-mules to exchange for Bitcoin. Then it was returned to him. The victim businesses, according to the DoJ, were from all over the US, including Chicago, New York, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and California.
A Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Lamborghini Urus, a Mercedes-Benz G-Class AMG G55, as well as Rolex and Patek Philippe watches were among the opulent possessions Ponle was required to lose in addition to paying back any income obtained illegally. Local UAE officials assisted in the prosecution of Ponle by aiding in his detention in June 2020, which was followed by his extradition to the US for trial.
The Sentence
Ponle chose to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud earlier this year after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him. In its announcement, the DoJ left it unclear if Ponle’s accomplices had also been detained, raising the possibility that the criminal organization he oversaw may still be at liberty.