Threats Without Borders - Issue 36
Matt's Newsletter, Week ending July 25, 2021
Today I am launching The Mule Project.
Law enforcement officers who investigate cyber-financial crimes are continuously frustrated by the futility of chasing the money and the never-ending supply of seemingly willing victims. This sense of despair is further exasperated by the fact that most technology-facilitated frauds are organized and administered by foreign entities, either organized criminal groups or nation-state actors. Cyber frauds such as Business Email Compromises, Romance scams, and classified-ad frauds have become extremely profitable for international cybercrime actors.
The hardest part of running an Internet-based fraud is getting the money out of the United States banking system. International-based fraud groups spend massive amounts of time and energy in recruiting and coordinating their network of domestic American money runners. Law enforcement refers to these middlemen as Mules. They are people residing in America, with a domestic bank account, who are foolish enough to believe whatever web of deceit the recruiter for the fraud group is spinning.
Law enforcement may not be able to identify and criminally charge the masterminds of fraud, but we can certainly target the domestic mules.
Mules are usually viewed as victims themselves which makes prosecution difficult. Yes, in a way they are victims, but should their foolish naivety get them a complete pass? Their actions caused emotional and financial distress to another person and they should be held accountable for complicity.
A chokepoint for American law enforcement is that there is no way to link these singular incidents together to make a larger case. Federal prosecutors will usually not target a mule who accepted a $5,000 wire transfer because of the low dollar amount. But what if that same person accepted twenty-five $5,000.00 wire transfers? A person responsible for $125,000.00 in victimization is certainly a worthy target.
Most incidents of cyber-fraud are reported to state and local agencies and never made known to federal law enforcement. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center collects and correlates reports from all over the nation but does not actively distribute coordinated data to state and local investigators.
The Mule Project is an effort to use data analytics to spot trends and tie criminal money transfers to specific mules. The project will connect fraud events spanning multiple jurisdictions and link law enforcement investigators from different agencies. This collaboration will lead to more arrests of domestic money runners and further disruption to international cybercrime networks.
The Rest…
Former federal prosecutor: “The justice department turns a blind eye to white-collar crime”. Yes. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/23/justice-department-financial-crime-prosecution-500650
The U.S. Department of State had to shut down its online passport application portal due to rampant fraud - leaving travelers stranded. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Scammers-shut-down-passport-application-system-SFO-16333136.php
The European Union declares war on money laundering. And 5 reasons why their effort will mostly fail. (1) https://www.dw.com/en/the-eu-declares-war-on-money-laundering/a-58583614 (2) https://www.politico.eu/article/money-laundering-eu-crackdown-5-reasons/
Will the adoption of cryptocurrency by money launderers be their weakness? https://www.paymentsjournal.com/cryptocurrency-is-better-for-anti-money-laundering-than-you-might-think/
Tools
Reverse image search for faces: https://pimeyes.com/en
Learn who owns that plot of land: https://regrid.com/
“YOU HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY TO LIVE UP TO WHAT OTHERS EXPECT OF YOU. THAT’S THEIR MISTAKE, NOT YOUR FAILING.” - someone smarter than me.
Thank You for opening this weeks newsletter. Please check out The Mule Project and share within your community.
-Matt