back to article Scammers ahoy! International police operation harpoons 74 email whaling suspects

Police have carried out a worldwide wave of arrests that have seen 74 people detained and over $16m in purloined funds seized by suspected whalers, or business email compromise (BEC) fraudsters. Over the past few years the FBI has been targeting BEC fraud, a social-engineering scam to convince companies and individuals to …

  1. Blockchain commentard

    Dear friend,

    If you've been conned by a BEC scammer please email me your bank details and fax a copy of your signature so we can send recovered funds back to their rightful owners.

    Yours sincerely

    The Nigerian prince in charge of financial crimes.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Expect also messages 'from the FBI' telling you your funds have been recovered...

      1. BebopWeBop

        and those nice people at the FBI only charge a percentage of the money recovered to cover their costs.... They even take it out of your account autimatically. Now that is service.

    2. TheVogon

      See https://youtu.be/tXzUde5DMUo

  2. Herby

    If only...

    The FBI (and others) attacked spam as much we all might be better off!

  3. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

    Can anyone see a contradiction here?

    ...It remains to be seen how many of the arrests were of the instigators of any fraud rather than money mules who just handle the cash and who are thus relatively easy pickings. But it does look as though law enforcement is at last getting to grips with the issue....

    NOTICED the issue, yes. "Getting to grips" with it, in the sense of catching the king-pins - I'm not so sure.

    Usually the big boss does nothing illegal himself, just taking a well-laundered cut. And bribes all the local politicians/police so that he is well aware of any investigation of this kind.....

  4. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

    I'm not so sure...

    ...It remains to be seen how many of the arrests were of the instigators of any fraud rather than money mules who just handle the cash and who are thus relatively easy pickings. But it does look as though law enforcement is at last getting to grips with the issue....

    Moticed the issue - certainly. Getting to grips with it - I'm not so sure.

    The big bosses don't ever do anything illegal - they just take their cut. And they are well connected to the local politicians and police, so they know about investigations as soon as they happen...

    1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

      Re: I'm not so sure...

      Double post, because the first one was reported as 'Deleted by Moderator'. Post left up so that moderators can check it out, and find out what on earth is going on...??

  5. DJO Silver badge

    Easy Fix?

    Is there any legitimate reason for anonymous bank accounts other than fraud or tax evasion?

    If so then perhaps some system of escrow where the identity is held secure unless there is fraud on the account.

    If not then making sure all holders of bank accounts are traceable would pretty much stop this sort of fraud overnight - also make the banks liable for any losses fraudulently credited to an account where they can't locate the holder of that account.

    In reality pretty much all bank mediated fraud could be stopped if the banks were liable for all losses, but at the moment there is no incentive as the banks profit from money moving about regardless of the legal status of that money.

  6. EJ

    Financial controls prevent thsi

    Businesses that have proper financial controls in place find it difficult to fall prey to these schemes.

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