More than 280 people were arrested in an international operation targeting alleged email scammers.
The U.S. Department of Justice this week announced the conclusion of a global effort to stop Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes designed to hijack wire transfers.
The four-month sting, known as Operation reWired, led to 74 arrests in the US and 207 overseas—including 167 in Nigeria, 18 in Turkey, and 15 in Ghana, plus those in France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, and the UK.
Feds also seized nearly $3.7 million.
BEC, known as “cyber-enabled financial fraud,” is what the DOJ called a “sophisticated scam” aimed at employees with access to company finances, as well as businesses working with foreign suppliers or which regularly perform wire transfers.
The same thugs exploit individuals (often senior citizens) by impersonating a business colleague, romantic partner, or lottery worker and convincing them to make wire transfers to bank accounts controlled by the criminals.
Scams may involve fraudulent requests for checks, target sensitive information, and may not involve an actual “compromise” of an email account for computer network.
“The Department of Justice has increased efforts in taking aggressive enforcement action against fraudsters who are targeting American citizens and their businesses,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement.
“Anyone who engages in deceptive practices like this should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable,” he added.
These cases affect not only the victim businesses, but the global economy.
According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, nearly $1.3 billion in loss was reported in 2018 from BEC and Email Account Compromise (EAC)—nearly twice as much as the previous year.
Some cases involved defrauding small-to-large businesses, while others saw individual victims transfer high-dollar funds or sensitive records.
“Through Operation reWired, we’re sending a clear message to the criminals who orchestrate these BEC schemes,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “We’ll keep coming after you, no matter where you are. And to the public, we’ll keep doing whatever we can to protect you.”
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