Today the news hit the wire of a massive state-side investigation that has been ongoing for months within the Justice Department, including the FBI, CIA, and foreign governments have indited over 80 scammers, with over a dozen already arrested. The scam profitted over $10M USD and had thousands of victims, from individuals to businesses.
"The Justice Department has indicted dozens of individuals accused of involvement in a massive business email scam and money laundering scheme.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California, confirmed more than a dozen individuals had been arrested during raids on Thursday — mostly in the Los Angeles area. A total of 80 defendants are allegedly involved in the scheme.
News of the early morning raids were first reported by ABC7 in Los Angeles.
The 145-page indictment, unsealed Thursday, said the 80 named individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
Most of the individuals alleged to be involved in the scheme are based in Nigeria, said the spokesperson.
It’s not immediately known if the Nigerian nationals will be extradited to the U.S.; however, a treaty exists between the two nations, making extraditions possible.
U.S. Attorney Nicola Hanna said the case was part of an ongoing effort to protect citizens and businesses from email scams.
..."
Read the rest at https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/22/fbi-arrest-doj-email-scam/
And read the indictment at http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6318484-BEC-Iro-Igbokwe-et-al-indictment.html
Briefly looking at the company names, some of them, including romance scams were originally reported through here. Book another win for the good guys.