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…
Category: CyberCrime & Doing Time
SMS Pools and what the US Secret Service Really Found Around New York
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…
Postal Thief Arrested in Oregon
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…
Microsoft DCU’s Takedown of RaccoonO365
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…
Indian Call Center Scammers partner with Chinese Money Launderers
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…
Attorney Generals go after Bitcoin ATMs for supporting Fraud
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…
Chinese Guarantee Syndicates and the Fruit Machine
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…
California Tax Refund Mobile Phish
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…
Chinese SMS Spammers Go Mobile
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…
Ghanaian fraudsters arrested for BEC/Sakawa
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…
Operation Chakra V: Call Center Scammers and your PII
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…
Project Red Hook: Chinese Gift Card Fraud at Scale
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…
$50 Million in BEC Losses
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…
Millions and Millions of Fraud Domains: China attacks Illegal Gambling and Telecom Fraud
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.”…
BEC Scammers Adventures on the Run
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…
Maryland Busts $9.5 Million #BEC Money Laundering Ring
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…
Maryland Busts $9.5 Million #BEC Money Laundering Ring
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…
Identification Documents: an Obsolete Fraud Countermeasure
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…
Classic Baggie: Part Three – the Romance Scam Victims
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…
Book Review: The Crypto Launderers: Crime and CryptoCurrencies
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…