A Dallas, Texas,
woman has been sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty
to a charge of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern
District of Indiana said.
Rita Alielnour was
sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by two years of supervised
release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“According to
documents in the case, Alielnour participated in an email compromise and
account takeover scheme that obtained over $335,000 during a two-day period
in April 2017,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “As part of the scheme,
Alielnour opened a bank account in the name of a non-existent business to
receive fraudulent wire transfers. A victim in the Northern District of
Indiana was tricked into wiring $282,000 for a down payment on a home into
Alielnour’s bank account after members of the scheme spoofed the escrow
officer’s email address and provided false wire instructions. A victim in
Texas was tricked into wiring nearly $25,000 into Alielnour’s account
believing it was payment of a business invoice. A second victim in Texas had
his bank account compromised, and an unknown person wired money into
Alielnour’s account.”
“Email compromise
and account takeover schemes cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars
every year,” U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch said. “Those schemes cannot be
accomplished without people who open bank accounts and move the money.
People engaged in such acts will be aggressively prosecuted.”
All funds were
recovered and returned to the victims.
The case was
investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security
Investigations.