74 people arrested
in US-led crackdown on email scams
The international effort to disrupt Business
Email Compromise (BEC) schemes also resulted in the seizure of nearly $2.4
million and the recovery of around $14 million in fraudulent wire transfers
The United States’ federal authorities on
Monday announced the arrests of 74 people on three continents for their alleged
roles in large-scale Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes, according to
announcements by the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Forty-two people were detained in the US, 29
in Nigeria, and three in Canada, Mauritius, and Poland following a coordinated
international effort called Operation WireWire. The operation was conducted
over six months before leading to a wave of arrests over a span of more than
two weeks.
In a typical BEC scenario, a criminal uses
various techniques, including computer intrusions and social
engineering, to dupe a company employee into carrying out a transfer of funds.
The victim labors under the impression that the funds are being sent to a
trusted business partner, but instead the money ends up in a bank account
controlled by the scammers.
The individuals charged in the WireWire
operation are believed to have participated in international criminal
organizations that defrauded small- to large-sized businesses, as well as
individual victims, who were duped into transferring high-dollar amounts or
sensitive records.
A number of those arrested are “money mules”
who, whether acting as witting or unwitting accomplices, were recruited to
receive funds from the victims and to wire them as directed by the fraudsters.
These money launderers get to keep a small cut of the proceeds in exchange for
their “trouble”.
“This operation demonstrates the FBI’s
commitment to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises that target American
citizens and their businesses,” FBI Director Christopher A. Wray was quoted as
saying. “We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners
around the world to end these fraud schemes and protect the hard-earned assets
of our citizens. The public we serve deserves nothing less.”
The US Department of Homeland Security,
Department of the Treasury and the Postal Inspection Service, as well as law
enforcement in Nigeria, Poland, Canada, Mauritius, Indonesia, and Malaysia,
also contributed to the operation.
The FBI recently announced that the reported loss totals for victims of BEC
fraud and its variation known as Email Account Compromise (EAC) fraud topped
$676 million last year.