Wire transfer scam: FBI arrests 74 in US, Nigeria, other countries

74 in US, Nigeria, other countries

 The operation saw the FBI work with police in Canada, Mauritius, Indonesia, Poland and Malaysia to arrest 74 suspects - The operation also resulted in the seizure of nearly $2.4 million The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested 74 people in the United States of America over alleged fraudulent crimes. The suspects were arrested following their coordinated effort to disrupt business email compromise schemes designed to intercept and hijack wire transfers from businesses and individuals. Punch reports that the United States Department of Justice announced that the suspects include 29 in Nigeria, and three in Canada, Mauritius and Poland. The department said Operation Wire Wire, a coordinated law enforcement effort by the US Department of Justice, US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of the Treasury and the US Postal Inspection Service, was conducted over a six month period.

The US department also said the operation accumulated in over two weeks of intensified law enforcement activity. “The operation also resulted in the seizure of nearly $2.4m, and the disruption and recovery of approximately $14 million in fraudulent wire transfers,” a statement by the US department of justice said.

The US department also said the same criminal organisations that perpetrate BEC - cyber-enabled financial fraud - also exploit individual victims, often real estate purchasers, the elderly, and others. It said the suspects extort their victim by convincing them to make wire transfers to bank accounts controlled by the criminals. “Foreign citizens perpetrate many BEC scams. Those individuals are often members of transnational criminal organisations, which originated in Nigeria but have spread throughout the world," the statement added.

Also, the director of FBI, Christopher Wray, said the operation demonstrated the agency's commitment to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises that target American citizens and their businesses. “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,” Wray said.