
CyberCrime & Doing Time
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A blog about computer crime, digital evidence, and the cases and criminals related to those crimes. Malware, botnets, spam, and phishing.
CyberCrime & Doing Time
8M ago
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 Million in Losses by Victims in New York City and Across the Country
Today, indictments were unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging four defendants for their participatio ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
8M ago
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: https://www.usip.org/node/160386 )
The reason I was looking into the report is that this 106 page report is about how Chinese organized crime has planted themselves in Casino complexes across Cambodia, Indone ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
11M ago
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 they not also been sentenced?
The indictment against FOMBE, OWOLABI, and ADEOYE demonstrates that they conducted Business Email Compromise #BEC scams against businesses in Califor ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
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 Sentenced." When I read the press release, my eyes went immediately to Desmond Nkwenya, because I was already familiar with that name from a larger case in the Northern District of Georgia that had been ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
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 romance scam victims in this case. I would normally address them by their surnames as Mr. X or Mrs. Y out of respect, but to help protect their anonymity, I'm using only their first names.
Sally ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
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 is brought in before the judge. This agent was supposed to testify about how West African Organized Crime works. The prosecutor and the judge discussed it before the Agent was summoned, and the judg ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
The U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware charged Olugbenga Lawal with being a major money launderer for a Nigerian-based international criminal organization that specialized in Business Email Compromise (#BEC) and Romance Scam. Lawal was charged with receiving more than $3 million USD (that would be more than ₦2,8 Billion!) and sending funds to Nigeria both through money transfer, but also buy purchasing and shipping more than $600,000 in vehicles.
Olugbenga Lawal was born November 30, 1990 in Lagos, Nigeria. After attending boarding school starting at age 13, he got a bachelor's degree in ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
Earlier this month, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit was featured in a WIRED article by Lily Hay Newman - Microsoft’s Digital Crime Unit Goes Deep on How It Disrupts Cybercrime. In part, the article discusses MS-DCU's case against the hackers that they call Storm-1152. According to DCU, Storm-1152 used their CAPTCHA-cracking capabilities to assist other criminals in the massive creation of Microsoft email accounts, such as Hotmail and Outlook accounts. How many? How about 750 MILLION email accounts created for illicit purposes! In their announcement about Storm-1152, DCU's Amy Hogan-Burney ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
One of my techniques for keeping current on Cybercrime trends is having an "interesting" collection of international news ticklers. This story came to me via X:CyberScamMonitor via a QQ account called "onCambodia." @CyberScamMonitor is a Twitter/X account and Substack account dedicated to tracking online scam and gambling operations in Southeast Asia and documenting human trafficking and human rights abuses. Great work and a strong recommendation to follow if you wish to learn more about the links between #CryptoScams and #PigButchering.
I apologize to the original journalist as I have been un ..read more
CyberCrime & Doing Time
1y ago
Some of you may have heard that students in UAB's Investigating Online Crimes class have been researching Crypto Investment Scam websites. You can find a list of some of the sites we've identified so far on URLScan.io using our tag "CryptoScam" (as of this writing we have 3600+ sites on the list -- hosting companies and registrars, please take action!)
Mirror Trading International and a $3.4 Billion Fine
You may have never heard of the U.S. Government agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but that doesn't mean they don't have power. Last week the CFTC annou ..read more