Nigeria, Sept. 30 -- Two Nigerians, Chijioke Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in the United States for their roles in an international cyber intrusion and fraud scheme.

The Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday that the two worked with a criminal syndicate to defraud American businesses of more than $2.4 million.

"They attacked business victims across the United States with email "spamming" and phishing campaigns to steal usernames and passwords for victims' employee email accounts," the statement read.

A district court in Iowa sentenced them to a combined total of 15 years (189 months) in US federal prison. Mr Odimegwu was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $366...