In early March, the FBI together with the U.S. Attorney for the District Of Columbia and other top officials charged 19 people in the U.S. and abroad for participating in various international money laundering, fraud, and conspiracies. Such illegal acts resulted in the loss on more that $13 million from victims who mostly resided in the U.S.
Information coming from the FBI.
The FBI has so far arrested 17 offenders. Two offenders, however, remain at large. The FBI however, is working with its foreign counterparts to find and arrest the two remaining culprits.
These investigations began in 2011 lead by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Treasury to identify individuals that lead a series of transnational multi-million-dollar organized crime networks. Four indictments involved interrelated online vehicle fraud and business e-mail compromise schemes along with unlicensed international money transmitting systems.
How investigations began.
The FBI investigations began after someone abandoned a vehicle for a long time at a hotel parking lot in Washington, D.C. The vehicle was then identified to be part of organized crime operations involving online vehicle fraud schemes.
How the car crimes and conspiracies were committed.
The online vehicle fraud schemes involved some Individuals residing in Europe who advertised and sold cars on various U.S.
websites. Money was wired to the sellers U.S. bank accounts in the state of Washington D.C; the FBI later discovered that the bank accounts owners opened the accounts with fake U.S. ID documents. The funds in the accounts would be withdrawn and immediately sent to associates residing in Europe. The sellers never sent the cars to the buyers.
The FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director Andrew Vale and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing Phillips stated that the transnational organized crime enterprises were allegedly responsible for the theft of more than $13 million from victims not only in the U.S. but also around the world.
