A Nigerian national was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison for orchestrating a years-long scheme that used phishing attacks and malware to steal taxpayer data from Massachusetts tax preparation firms and file more than 1,000 fraudulent tax returns.
Matthew A. Akande, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. In addition to the prison term, Akande was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,393,230 in restitution.
Prosecutors say Akande and his co-conspirators filed fraudulent returns seeking more than $8.1 million in refunds over roughly five years, from June 2016 to June 2021, ultimately stealing more than $1.3 million from the U.S. government.
Akande carried out the scheme by sending phishing emails to five Massachusetts tax preparation firms. The emails posed as inquiries from prospective clients but were designed to trick firm employees into downloading remote access trojan malware, including a program known as Warzone RAT. Once installed, the malware gave Akande access to clients’ personal information and prior-year tax data, which he used to file fraudulent returns, directing refunds into bank accounts controlled by co-conspirators in the United States.
Those co-conspirators withdrew the stolen funds in cash and transferred a portion to third parties in Mexico at Akande’s direction, keeping a share for themselves.
Akande, who was living in Mexico at the time of his arrest, was taken into custody in October 2024 at London’s Heathrow Airport at the request of U.S. authorities. He was extradited to the United States on March 5, 2025. A federal grand jury had indicted him in July 2022 on charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, unauthorised computer access, theft of government money, and aggravated identity theft.
The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks, and IRS Criminal Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Thomas Demeo. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs coordinated the extradition with U.K. authorities.
