On April 10, 2026, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Gary Christopher for serving as a money mule for a “phantom hacker” scam, where
- The scammers will call their victim under the false personation of a federal attorney’s office, falsely claiming their victim was under investigation for purchasing CHILD P0RNOGRAPHY.
- In order to “protect” their money and identity, the victim will first be asked to wire $24,358 and, later, withdraw all of the money from their bank account and convert them into gold bars.
- The gold bars will then be handed off to Christopher, who will launder the money over to India and receive a payment of $5,000 per box.
- Once the gold is collected, the scammers will tell their victim to cash out a retirement plan and convert another $600,000 into gold.
Christopher, according to the DoJ had “left his job in order to travel the country retrieving and transporting criminal proceeds” and was in active communications with a “handler” who discussed a series of jobs in Arizona, Florida and Illinois. Though released on April 9, he wound up getting arrested the following day after attempting to fly to Florida, being deemed a “flight risk.”