Decatur Woman Sentenced for $158,000 Email Scam Targeting Agriculture Business
Ogechi Urenna Udunka, a 44-year-old woman from Decatur, has been sentenced to prison for her involvement in an email scam that defrauded an agricultural company of over $150,000. Udunka pleaded guilty in Gwinnett County Superior Court to two counts of theft by taking and two counts of money laundering. Prosecutors revealed that Udunka participated in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme, a sophisticated cyber-enabled fraud where criminals impersonate legitimate business sources to illicitly obtain payments. In this specific case, the agricultural company believed it was paying an Oregon-based company for strawberry seeds. However, a fraudulent email, nearly identical to the legitimate one, redirected the payments to Udunka. She received $158,000 through two wire transfers in June 2021 and subsequently engaged in multiple financial transactions to conceal the origin of the funds, distributing them to herself and other co-conspirators. Under the First Offender Act, Udunka received a sentence of 10 years,...
