Scammers Target Australians in Cryptocurrency Call Center Scheme

It has come to light that people of Australia are the principal targets of a sophisticated multinational network of con artists that operate out of call centers focused on bitcoin. The network is believed to have originated in China. The heart of operations for the network may be found on the continent of Australia. It is commonly believed that the administration of this network is being handled by criminal syndicates that have their headquarters in Israel.

As part of a large-scale operation, law enforcement officers from the countries of Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, and Cyprus carried out house searches in a total of eleven locations across the country of Serbia, including four call centers. These locations included the country’s capital city of Belgrade. Officials from the island nation of Cyprus were responsible for the operation’s coordination. During the course of this operation, they discovered evidence showing that Australians were among the citizens of all of the other countries who were exposed to the highest degree of examination. This information suggests that Australians were among those subjected to this level of inspection. The material was made available to the general public on February 23 via the dissemination of an article that had been authored by The Australian and published on that day.

Fifteen individuals and about 1.46 million dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies were seized into custody as a direct result of the operations, which were carried out as a direct consequence of the acts.

It would seem that con artists who work out of these contact centers are using advertisements on social media in an effort to persuade fresh victims into falling for their schemes. They achieve this goal by ensuring prospective investors that any investments they make would result in a significant return on the cash that they have invested. The findings of the research reveal that individuals do engage in this activity, which testifies to the notion that it is prevalent since it indicates that people do participate.

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Owner of Crypto Exchange RG Coins Gets 10 Years in Prison for Laundering $5M

The owner and manager of cryptocurrency exchange RG Coins has been handed a lengthy prison term for his involvement in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud U.S. citizens.

According to a Tuesday press release from the Department of Justice, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Weir sentenced Rossen Iossifov to a 10-year sentence – 85% of which must be served behind bars under U.S. federal law.

The 53-year-old former Bulgarian national was sentenced for conspiracy to commit an offense under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Iossifov intentionally engaged in business designed to assist criminals in laundering proceeds of fraud and shielded himself from criminal liability, per the release.

Five of Iossifov’s main clients in Bulgaria belonged to a criminal enterprise dubbed the Alexandria (Romania) Online Auction Fraud (AOAF) Network. So far, 17 members of the AOAF Network have been convicted for their role in the scheme.

The online auction fraud gang targeted at least 900 U.S. citizens in a “large-scale” operation. Romanian-based members of AOAF posted false advertisements to online sales sites such as eBay and Craigslist for high-cost goods, typically vehicles, that did not actually exist.

After victims sent payment, the money was laundered using cryptocurrency accepted on behalf of domestic associates who would then transfer the cryptocurrency proceeds to foreign-based money launderers.

Iossifov undertook the last step in the scheme on behalf of the criminal network, the court found. In less than three years, Iossifov laundered close to $5 million in cryptocurrency for four of the five AOAF criminal co-conspirators.

More than $7 million in total was defrauded from U.S. victims via the scheme. In return, Iossifov made over $184,000 in proceeds from the transactions, according to the Department of Justice.

Disclosure

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 43,816.74 0.32%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,355.90 0.15%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 77.82 1.12%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 250.48 2.06%