A Blog about Cyber Crime and related Justice issues
After having a short discussion with Gemini about Chinese Money Laundering, I could tell we weren't quite connecting on my Mandarin-assistance requests, so I shared an example post from a Telegram "Crime-as-a-Service" group that was part of a Chinese Guarantee Syndicate. For context, these posts were made in the Tudou Guarantee Syndicate's group dedicated to services wanted or provided, with…
My readers will know by now that I am addicted to PACER - the Public Access to Court Electronic Records. When I see headlines like this one, I am compelled to dive in and read every publicly released document related to the case. USAO Central California The headline last month was that Shengsheng He, a 39 year old Chinese native living in La Puente California (described as being a resident of Los…
Today my LinkedIn feed and Google News filter is showing me several stories that illustrate how we are failing to stop online scammers from stealing from our elderly. It starts with the headlines. CTVNews : Ontario seniors GIVE AWAY MORE THAN $1 MILLION to scammers. CTVNews: Ontario couple LOSES MORE THAN $1 MILLION DOLLARS to fraud. Toronto Only : A couple ... LOST MORE THAN $1 MILLION Daily Mail…
My colleague Raghavendra Cherupalli will be at APWG eCrime next month sharing a paper based on our research into the Facebook Groups where illicit Indian Call Centers share "Crime-as-a-Service" offerings with one another. In our paper, "Classification of Cybercriminal Posts Using Large Language Models: A Comprehensive Study on Tech Support Scam Marketplaces," Raghavendra will be sharing how he and…
(photo from BBC article " China sentences 11 members of mafia family to death ") On Monday this week, Chinese authorities sentenced to death 16 members of "The Four Families" for the multitude of crimes they committed while operating scam compounds in Northern Myanmar near the Chinese border. This was the culmination of an investigation that has been on-going since July 2023 and that we have been…
As I was visiting SmishTank to report the most recent SMish that I had received (an iMessage from a +27 South African telephone number claiming to be from ParkMobile) I noticed there had been many recent submissions from the New York Department of Revenue. SmishTank is operated by Professor Muhammad Lutfor Rahman , a colleague of mine from our time at UAB, and his student Daniel Timko from…
Last week the United Nations General Assembly kicked off in New York City. On the first day, a strange US Secret Service press conference revealed that they had seized 300 SIM Servers with 100,000 SIM cards. Various media outlets jumped on the idea that this was some state-sponsored sleeper cell waiting to destroy telecommunication services around New York. Like me, you may have immediately…
The case caught my eye with the headline in the Oregon Live trumpeting: " Mail theft suspect in Portland made daring 13th-floor balcony escape, later arrested " and saying that the suspect's apartment contained ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY POSTAL KEYS! But Michael John Peters is not the type of mail thief that I am accustomed to seeing in our investigations. Most of the check thieves that DarkTower…
When I saw the name of the Microsoft Digital Crime Unit's latest target, "RaccoonO365" I probably reacted to it differently than most. With the help of a friend in Lagos, we've been watching the money launderers and things have reached a point that they now refer to what we previously called "Business Email Compromise" or BEC as "O365 Jobs." from Microsoft's explainer on RaccoonO365 Microsoft DCU…
At the end of August 2025, The US Attorney's office in San Diego announced four indictments against members of a Chinese organized crime ring that stole at least $65 million from thousands of older Americans. The case was notable because the US Attorney credited two YouTube channels with the leads that led to 25 arrests so far in California, New York, Texas, and Michigan. When we see 25 Chinese…
On 08SEP2025, the District of Columbia's Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Athena, a "Bitcoin ATM machine" provider with 4100+ BTMs installed. Athena charges as much as a 26% fee when someone deposits cash to buy cryptocurrency. More importantly, the lawsuit claims that 93% of all deposits into Athena “BTMs” in the DC area were made by scam victims. The main argument made by this lawsuit is…
When I was speaking to a group of Bank Security people in New York City yesterday, I mentioned "machine rooms" -- which are rooms full of Apple iPhones that are used to send iMessage phishing spam. Someone in the audience asked "Where would they get that many phones?" The kids like to use the acronym "IYKYK" (If You Know You Know). I learn new IYKYK phrases in Chinese Telegram every day. Today's…
A new round of mobile phish is imitating the State of California's "Franchise Tax Board" in a round of phishing sites that are gaining prominence in the past few days. I visited ftb.ca-gov-sg[.]top/notice from a burner phone to see how the scheme works (the page doesn't load from the Windows browsers I tested.) After harvesting all of my private information, the site informs me that I had a $1050…
CommsRisk once more has a story today about how Chinese organized crime is recruiting people online to drive around with SMS Blasters installed in their vehicles. https://commsrisk.com/thais-caught-with-smishing-sms-blaster-say-chinese-boss-paid-75-per-day/ In many countries, notably NOT the United States, government telecom regulations has made a significant impact on scammers by blocking the…
In Nigeria, scammers who specialize in Romance Scams and BEC are called "Yahoo Boys." In Ghana, the term for the same activity is "Sakawa." Several Ghanaian headlines are talking about this case with headlines such as "Multimillion dollar Sakawa" or "Sakawa Chairman Busted" or "Sakawa Kingpin Bows to Extradition!" On 08AUG2025 the US Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York announced…
Here we have another cautionary tale about off-shoring customer service when faced with the reality of Call Center Scams that commit fraud via Tech Support Scams and Government Impersonation. In this case, FirstIdea, an Indian company is charged with committing fraud against at least 100 victims from Australia and the UK. FirstIdea.us, according to their website, provides Debt Collection services…
Project Red Hook is a Homeland Security Investigations operation examining how Chinese Organized Crime is committing wholesale Gift Card Fraud by using Chinese illegal immigrants to steal gift cards, reveal their PIN, reseal the cards, and return them to store racks. When the card is later purchased and activated, operators are standing by to quickly drain the card before the customer can use it.…
The Eastern District of New York has announced charges against four men for their roles in a Business Email Compromise (BEC) and romance scams. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/four-individuals-charged-connection-business-email-compromise-schemes-and-related-0 The US Attorney's Office press release states: Defendants Allegedly Participated in Fraudulent Schemes That Resulted in More Than $50…
Last week I was reviewing a publication by the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime published in January 2024, titled "Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organized Crime in East and Southeast Asia: A Hidden and Accelerating Threat." (URL to the UNODC report: UNODC: Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking ... full report ) (URL to the USIP report:…
Last week the case of Valentine FOMBE was finally brought to a close. FOMBE was sentenced to 144 months in Federal prison and ordered to pay $325,856 in restitution to victims of Business Email Compromise scams that he conducted from 2016 to 2018. The various court documents present nearly as many puzzles as the sentence answers. Chief among them, what happened to the co-conspirators? and why have…
Three indictments have been unsealed in Maryland that document an extensive network of shell companies that were used to wash at least $9.5 Million in funds from at least fifteen #BEC (Business Email Compromise) cases across the country. In the first indictment, those charged (with an example address from their respective shell companies): Adanegbe Gift Osemwenkhae - 8304 DEBORAH ST, CLINTON, MD…
When I'm talking to bankers and other fraud fighters, I often mention how easy it is for a criminal to obtain a Drivers License bearing any information they desire. I was reminded of this again as I saw the sentencing of Desmond Nkwenya from Brookhaven, Georgia this week. The DOJ press release from the Eastern District of Virginia released 09FEB2024 was entitled " Four Members of Bank Fraud Ring…
If you are just joining us, we are reviewing the court transcripts of a Business Email Compromise / Romance Scam Money Laundering case. Part One reveals " Classic Baggie: A Delaware BEC Case calls him the leader of an International Criminal Organization " and Part Two was called " Classic Baggie: Part 2 - How to run a Money Laundering Operation ." Today, we'll share the stories of three of the…
The Crypto Launderers: Crime and Cryptocurrencies from the Dark Web to DeFi and Beyond - by David Carlisle I wish I had a way to review this book without having first read last year’s “Tracers in the Dark.” While Tracers talked about the people involved in investigating various crypto-based crimes and those early researchers who made the tracing process possible, Carlisle tells many of the same…
In Part 1 of this story Classic Baggie: A Delaware BEC Case calls him the leader of an International Criminal Organization the prosecutor in the case of Olugbenga Lawal has given his opening arguments, where he calls Classic Baggie the leader of an international criminal enterprise. On the first day of the trial, before selecting the jury, an FBI Agent specializing in Transnational Organized Crime…