The Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse in Downtown Fresno. File photo

Two men were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday with six counts of wire fraud stemming from a $1.6 million phishing scheme against the County of Fresno.

Jafaar September Nyangoro, 52, of Franklin, Tennessee, and Peter Bah Acha, 45 of Berlin, Germany, are accused of secretly gaining control of an email account used by the finance director of a Visalia nonprofit to send fraudulent invoices for payment through Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers.

Between Sept. 24, 2020, and Oct. 13, 2020, the County of Fresno initiated several ACH transfers totaling more than $1.6 million to Nyangoro’s bank account instead of the nonprofit’s account, according to court documents.

“Posing as the finance director, they fraudulently represented to the County of Fresno that the nonprofit’s bank account information had changed and that payments should be sent to an account at a different bank that Nyangoro had recently opened,” according to a DOJ news release. “The County of Fresno updated the nonprofit’s bank account information accordingly.”

The nonprofit was identified as Turning Point Solutions of Central California in court documents. It provides behavioral/mental health and substance abuse disorder services.

A news release from Fresno County said county officials were able to reverse and recover about $112,000 upon discovery on the fraud. About $875,000 was covered by the county’s insurance.

The Fresno County auditor-controller/treasurer-tax collector’s office updated its processes soon after the incident to protect against similar fraud attempts, according to the release. Internal audits are performed on a quarterly basis to review all vendors set up on electronic payments to ensure proper controls.

The county didn’t release the fraud discovery publicly at the request of federal law enforcement “to protect the integrity of their investigation and potential prosecution of suspects,” according to the release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said Nyangoro, Acha and others communicated with each other through various means, including WhatsApp. For example, on Oct. 16, 2020, after Regions Bank reversed some of the ACH transfers for suspected fraud, Nyangoro sent a WhatsApp message: “We’re in deep s***. The last 3 transactions from County of Fresno have been reversed. Please call me ASAP!”

A search warrant for the contents of a Google email address that was receiving forwarded emails from the fraudulent Turning Point Solution email address showed evidence the owner of the account was using a keylogger to capture login credentials for several other internet users.

If convicted, Nyangoro and Acha face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

Fresno County wasn’t the only local municipality targeted for a phishing scheme in 2020. In January 2020, the City of Fresno’s finance department fell victim to a similar scam that cost more than $600,000.