A Hingham man was sentenced in Boston federal court Tuesday in connection with an international money laundering and real estate scheme.

Yannick A. Minang, 26, will sereve 46 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and forfeiture and restitution – each in the amount of $465,616. Minang pleaded guilty to a five-count indictment charging international money laundering, structuring, unlawful monetary transactions, concealment money laundering and false statements in January.

Minang opened bank accounts in the names of sole proprietorship businesses as part of a business email compromise (BEC) scheme that targeted individuals about to purchase real estate. Generally, a BEC scheme is a sophisticated scam which targets businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising and/or “spoofing” legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer hacking techniques to cause individuals to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.

Minang’s scheme worked as follows, prosecutors said: shortly before closing on properties, the victims received emails from their real estate agents or title companies containing wiring instructions that directed the victims to send funds to accounts that Minang and others had opened and controlled. The emails, however, were spoofed – made to appear to be coming from title company representatives and real estate agents, when in fact they were sent from email accounts created solely to carry out the fraud. After each deposit of fraudulent proceeds, the funds were wired to bank accounts abroad or withdrawn via structured cash withdrawals.

Minang was charged in a separate federal indictment in connection with a similar business email compromise scheme earlier this year. Prosecutors claim Minang committed that crime while charges in this case were pending.