An American online publisher focusing on
the tech industry, TechCrunch, has revealed that a whopping five
million emails were sent within 10 days by a group of 80 Internet
scammers who were rounded up in an earth-shaking clampdown on fraudsters
in the United States on Thursday.
Out of the 80 individuals involved, 78 of them are Nigerians residing variously in the United States and Nigeria.
A
spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of
California, Thom Mrozek, confirmed that the indicted persons were
arrested during raids on Thursday — mostly in the Los Angeles area.
“A total of 80 defendants are allegedly involved in the scheme,” the medium said of the early morning raids.
The
145-page indictment, unsealed Thursday, said the 80 named individuals
are charged with conspiracy to commit “mail and bank fraud, as well as
aggravated identity theft and money laundering.”
Most of the individuals alleged to be involved in the scheme are based in Nigeria, Mrozek said.
TechCrunch
reported that, for 10 days in March, millions of unsuspecting people
were caught in these scammers’ massive spam campaigns.
“Each
email looked like it came from someone the recipient knew: the spammer
took stolen email addresses and passwords, quietly logged into their
email account, scraped their recently sent emails and pushed out
personalized emails to the recipient of that sent email with a link to a
fake site, pushing a weight loss pill or a bitcoin scam,” the online
publishing outfit reported.
“The emails were so convincing more
than 100,000 people clicked through,” it said, providing the details of
how it employed tech security researchers to track the online activities
of the fraudsters.
“We know this because a security
researcher found the server leaking the entire operation. The spammer
had forgotten to set a password,” it wrote.
It noted that, as of
the time it accessed one of the scammers’ servers’, the rig was no
longer running, probably in an effort to avoid getting blacklisted by
anti-spam providers. “But the server was primed to start spamming
again,” TechCrunch said.
It revealed that there were “more than three million unique exposed credentials sitting on the spammer’s server.”
The
server was hosted on intelimost.com, with no contact information for
the spammer, TechCrunch said; and contacted the hosting provider,
Awknet, urging it to pull the scammers’ server offline. Awknet obliged.
“We found a massive spam operation and sunk its servers,” TechCrunch said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation indictment sheet obtained by The PUNCH is revealing.
The
145-page FBI charge sheet contains the names of the defendants in the
multi-billion-dollar fraud case, the names of their indicted
co-conspirators, and those of the un-indicted co-conspirators.
Listing
the objects of the conspiracy, the charge sheet states that, “Beginning
on a date unknown to the Grand Jury, but no later than October 7, 2014,
and continuing through an unknown date, but no earlier than on or about
May 2, 2018, in Los Angeles County, within the Central District of
California, and elsewhere, the defendants and others known and unknown
to the Grand Jury, knowingly conspired:
“a. to conduct and
attempt to conduct, financial transactions, affecting interstate and
foreign commerce, knowing that the property involved in the financial
transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity,
which, in fact, involved the proceeds of specified unlawful activity —
namely, wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Section 1343; mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Section 1341; and bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States
Code, Section 1344(2) — and knowing that the transactions were designed
in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location,
source, ownership, and control of the proceeds, in violation of Title
18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(B)(i);
“b. to
transport, transmit, and transfer, and attempt to transport, transmit,
and transfer, funds from a place in the United States to a place outside
of the United States, knowing that the property involved in the
financial transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful
activity, and which property was, in fact, the proceeds of specified
unlawful activity — namely, wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 1343; mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 1341; and bank fraud, in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1344(2) — and knowing that the transactions
were designed in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the nature,
location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds, in violation
of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(2)(B)(i); and
“c.
to engage and attempt to engage in monetary transactions involving
criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000, affecting
interstate and foreign commerce, which was derived from specified
unlawful activity — namely, wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 1343; mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 1341; and bank fraud, in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1344(2) and knowing that the funds
represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, in violation
of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957.”
The suspects
face 252 counts bordering on fraud, intent to commit fraud,
impersonation and related crimes, according to the introductory
allegation charge sheet.
The Prosecutor added that the United
States of America will seek “forfeiture as part of any sentence,
pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Sections 982 and 1028 and
Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c) in the event of any
defendant’s conviction of the offenses set forth in any of Counts One
Hundred Seventy-One through Two Hundred Fifty-Two of this Indictment.
“Any defendant so convicted shall forfeit to the United States of America the following:
“(a) All right, title and interest in any and all property,
real or personal, constituting, or derived from, any proceeds
obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offense;
” (b) Any personal property used or intended to be used to
commit the offense; and
“(c) To the extent such property is not available for
forfeiture, a sum of money equal to the total value of the property
described in subparagraphs (a) and (b).
“Pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section 853(p), as
incorporated by Title 18, United States Code, Sections 982(b) and
1028(g), any defendant so convicted shall forfeit substitute
property, up to the total value of the property described in the
preceding paragraph if, as the result of any act or omission of said
defendant,
the property described in the preceding paragraph, or any portion
thereof: (a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due
diligence; (b) has been transferred, sold to or deposited with a
third party.”
Popular News
-
As someone who's always on the lookout for effective ways to support my health and well-being, I recently embarked on a 28-day detox j...
-
A US mayor of a small town in Illinois who sent Police officers on Sunday to break up parties amid coronavirus lockdown was left shocked ...
-
Ayodeji Richard Makun, the Nigerian comedian and actor, who is popularly known as AY, has apologized to late singer Ilerioluwa Aloba, po...
-
In today's fast-paced world, managing personal finances is more crucial than ever. Whether you're aiming to build wealth, save for...
-
The United Kingdom (UK) has announced new travel requirements. This is as it said Visa is not enough for people wishing to enter the c...
-
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
-
When thinking about a healthy lifestyle, besides leading a healthy diet, regular physical activity and regular exercise are pivotal. The ...
-
If issues are treated with the sense of urgency and importance they get in the court of public opinion compared to the conventional court...
-
I guess a bit of Chaos is coming to the US following Donald Trump's election to the highest seat in the country. The state of Califor...
-
A Nigerian woman has showed off her huge baby bump and the twins she delivered. @kenollybilzhairline7 went viral after sharing the vid...
-
Italy have been crowned champions of the 2020 European Championship after defeating England 3-2 in penalties on Sunday night, July 11. ...
-
“Every improvement contributing to your outstanding experience is our daily motivation.” - Remitano Every product and feature on the Rem...
-
For the quarter, added 537,000 residential and small enterprise business internet customers versus 380,000 within the prior year quarter....
-
SMS marketing is a marketing channel which allows businesses to message customers with marketing messages through SMS, or more commonly kn...
-
Breaking news about iceland country incredible but true if you are interested read the full story iceland team was able to achieve an ...
-
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
-
An Israeli professor has claimed that coronavirus will disappear after 70 days with or without intervention. The unproven claims were ma...
-
The Remitano founding team has always maintained the belief and vision that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are a big step forward for s...
-
Would you believe it if someone tells you that cayenne pepper has the power to stop a heart attack within a minute? Believe it or not, thi...
-
Apparently, ginger, a well-known spice we frequently add to different dishes to enhance the flavor, has the power to prevent cancer. But, i...
- bitcoin
- bitcoin mining
- Coronavirus
- dr anu nigeria
- coronavirus china
- Benefit Of Ginger Water
- Bobrisky
- Buhari
- coronavirus cure
- benefits of drinking milk
- Biafran War
- coronavirus death rate
- coronavirus outbreak
- dede one day mansion
- coronavirus update
- History of Biafra
- How To Make Ginger Water
- eri
- How to save your phone battery
- is 5g dangerous
- Kobe Bryant
- Jennifer Aniston
- kobe bryant family
- latest nigeria news paper
- kobe bryant wife
- latest on nigeria news
- naija news
- Malignant mesothelioma
- nigeria news
- Mesothelioma survival rates
- newspaper online in nigeria
- nigeria news breaking
- nigeria news headline today
- nigeria news of the day
- nigeria news paper online
- nigeria newspaper
- nigeria news paper today
- nigeria news today & breaking
- nigeria newspaper online
- nigerianewspaper
- nigeria newspapers
- Regina Daniels
- online dating scams
- Side Effects Of Eating Corn
- t mobile data usage
- online nigeria news
- what is tiger nut
- tiger nuts
- Tyson Fury
0 comments:
Post a Comment