This archive report was first published on 3 August 2019.
On August 3, 2019, a Kenyan-born man pleaded guilty to defrauding two United States universities out of more than $800,000 in a computer phishing scheme.
Amis Hassan Raage, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud before a southern California court.
He faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years and will be sentenced by Judge Gonzalo Curiel in the San Diego court on October 11, 2019.
Raage received over $870,000 in payments from officials at the University of California, San Diego and a second unspecified college in Pennsylvania.
"Modern criminals like Raage have ditched the ski mask and getaway vehicle and opted for a computer as their weapon of choice," said US Attorney Robert Brewer.
According to authorities, Raage conspired with other suspects in Kenya to contact officials at the two colleges claiming to be Dell service representatives.
They then instructed the college officials to redirect their Dell payments to an account in Minnesota controlled by Raage.
As a result, Raage and his crew illegally obtained $749,158.37 from the University of California and $123,643.77 from the Pennsylvanian college.
Raage fled to Kenya in September 2018 after his US bank accounts were frozen. He was arrested in May 2019 and extradited back to the US to face fraud charges.
