by nigerianscam419
Fri Oct 01, 2010 2:57 am
37 people are being charged in the United States for their alleged role in an international fraud ring based in East Europe that stole more than $3 million from bank accounts belonging primarily to small businesses and municipalities, according to indictments released Thursday.
37 people are being charged in the United States for their alleged role in an international fraud ring based in East Europe that stole more than $3 million from bank accounts belonging primarily to small businesses and municipalities, according to indictments released Thursday.
The sophisticated ring included a multitude of East Europeans who entered the United States on student visas and fake passports to operate as so-called “money mules,” laundering funds stolen from U.S. accounts and sending the money overseas.
Hackers believed to be in East Europe ran a botnet that used variants of the Zeus malware delivered to victims via e-mail. Zeus infected the victims’ computers to steal bank login credentials. The scammers then took over the accounts to initiate illegal bank transfers to other accounts controlled by the mules.
Last January, for example, about $130,000 was siphoned from the California bank account of a hospital.
The charges, filed in the Southern District of New York, are the culmination of a year-long investigation, dubbed Operation ACHing mules. “ACH” refers to Automated Clearing House, the system under which funds can be electronically transferred from one financial account to another.
The thieves recruited mules who entered the United States on J1 student visas, then provided them with the fake foreign passports. The mules used the passports to open fraudulent bank accounts in the United States under aliases to receive stolen funds transferred out of victim accounts. The mules then forwarded the funds to other bank accounts overseas or withdrew the cash at ATMs and smuggled the money out of the country.
The charges target 37 people in 21 separate cases. Nearly all of the suspects are in their 20s. Ten people were arrested in the United States in a coordinated takedown that coincided with the indictment release; 10 people were previously arrested. Another 17 (pictured above) are still at large. Those who have been arrested are mostly mules, but they also include managers and recruiters of the mules, as well as an individual, Sofia Dikova, who allegedly obtained the fake passports.
A shipment of fake passports was intercepted by authorities at Newark Liberty International Airport last January, which included a false Yugoslavian passport under the name Vesna Jelkovic, which bore Dikova’s photo.
Read more:http://xxxxxxxxx
Link not needed - see my post below - Michelle
37 people are being charged in the United States for their alleged role in an international fraud ring based in East Europe that stole more than $3 million from bank accounts belonging primarily to small businesses and municipalities, according to indictments released Thursday.
The sophisticated ring included a multitude of East Europeans who entered the United States on student visas and fake passports to operate as so-called “money mules,” laundering funds stolen from U.S. accounts and sending the money overseas.
Hackers believed to be in East Europe ran a botnet that used variants of the Zeus malware delivered to victims via e-mail. Zeus infected the victims’ computers to steal bank login credentials. The scammers then took over the accounts to initiate illegal bank transfers to other accounts controlled by the mules.
Last January, for example, about $130,000 was siphoned from the California bank account of a hospital.
The charges, filed in the Southern District of New York, are the culmination of a year-long investigation, dubbed Operation ACHing mules. “ACH” refers to Automated Clearing House, the system under which funds can be electronically transferred from one financial account to another.
The thieves recruited mules who entered the United States on J1 student visas, then provided them with the fake foreign passports. The mules used the passports to open fraudulent bank accounts in the United States under aliases to receive stolen funds transferred out of victim accounts. The mules then forwarded the funds to other bank accounts overseas or withdrew the cash at ATMs and smuggled the money out of the country.
The charges target 37 people in 21 separate cases. Nearly all of the suspects are in their 20s. Ten people were arrested in the United States in a coordinated takedown that coincided with the indictment release; 10 people were previously arrested. Another 17 (pictured above) are still at large. Those who have been arrested are mostly mules, but they also include managers and recruiters of the mules, as well as an individual, Sofia Dikova, who allegedly obtained the fake passports.A shipment of fake passports was intercepted by authorities at Newark Liberty International Airport last January, which included a false Yugoslavian passport under the name Vesna Jelkovic, which bore Dikova’s photo.
Read more:http://xxxxxxxxx
Link not needed - see my post below - Michelle
