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FBI RELEASES THE INTERNET CRIME COMPLAINT CENTER 2018 INTERNET CRIME REPORT
October 23, 2018
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2018 Internet Crime Report includes information from 351,937 complaints of suspected Internet crime, with reported losses in excess of $2.7 billion. The top three crime types reported by victims in 2018 were non-payment/non-delivery, extortion, and personal data breach. In addition to the 2018 statistics, the report contains information about the IC3, the FBI’s work in combating Internet crime, and the most prevalent scams.
The IC3 provides the public with a reliable and convenient mechanism to report Internet crime. The IC3 categorizes and analyzes the data to identify and forecast trends to promote public awareness of emerging and ongoing cyber threats. Since its inception in 2000, the IC3 has received a total of 4,415,870 complaints. The quality of the data is a direct reflection of the information the public provides through the IC3 website.
The IC3 created the Recovery Asset Team in February 2018 in order to streamline communication with financial institutions and assist FBI field offices in recovering funds for victims who made transfers to domestic accounts under fraudulent pretenses. Between its creation on February 2, 2018 and December 31, 2018, the Recovery Asset Team assisted in 1,061 incidents involving losses of more than $257 million, ultimately recovering over $192 million—a 75 percent recovery rate.
With the release of the 2018 Internet Crime Report, the FBI wants to remind the public to immediately report suspected criminal Internet activity to the IC3 at www.ic3.gov. By reporting Internet crime, victims are not only alerting law enforcement to the activity, but aiding in the overall fight against cybercrime.
PAY NO MORE: UNIVERSAL GANDCRAB DECRYPTION TOOL RELEASED FOR FREE ON NO MORE RANSOM
October 25, 2018
As of today, victims of the GandCrab ransomware can recover their files without giving into the demands of the criminals thanks to a new decryption tool released for free on www.nomoreransom.org.
This data recovery kit was developed by the Romanian Police in collaboration with its counterparts from Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States, together with the security company Bitdefender and Europol. It is the most comprehensive decryption tool available to date for this particular ransomware family: it works for all but two existing versions of the malware (v.1,4 and 5), regardless of the victim’s geographical location. This tool is released a week after the criminal group behind GandCrab made public decryption keys allowing only a limited pool of victims located in Syria to recover their files.
HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN NIGERIA, US ON ONLINE FRAUD CHARGES
September 10, 2019
WASHINGTON - Nearly 300 people — the bulk in Nigeria and the U.S. — have been arrested in an internationally coordinated law enforcement operation aimed at disrupting a multibillion-dollar internet scam, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The four-month global operation netted a total of 281 arrests worldwide, including 167 in Nigeria and 74 in the United States. Arrests were also made in Turkey, Ghana, France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia and Britain. The operation, dubbed reWired, led to the seizure of nearly $3.7 million, the Justice Department said.
Among those arrested in Nigeria were 77 Nigerian suspects recently indicted in the United States on conspiracy charges of swindling businesses and individuals through a variety of internet scams, Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said.
The Nigerians allegedly used so-called Business Email Compromise schemes, “romance fraud” and schemes targeting the elderly to steal millions of dollars from their victims in the United States and elsewhere before transferring the funds to Nigeria through an extensive money laundering network, according to a 252-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed last month.
Others arrested during the recent operation face similar charges.
In the southern U.S. state of Georgia, two Nigerian nationals were arrested in connection with fraudulently directing a transfer of $3.5 million from a health care provider to accounts across the United States. In Miami, two others were charged with laundering more than $950,000 of proceeds of BEC scams and recruiting about 18 others to serve as “money mules.”
Widely used by Nigerian fraudsters, Business Email Compromise schemes involve targeting employees with access to company finances and tricking them into making unauthorized wire transfers into accounts controlled by swindlers.
$26 BILLION ONLINE SCAM
September 10, 2019
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Business Email Compromise is a $26 billion online scam. Last year, BEC and its variant, Email Account Compromise, resulted in losses of nearly $1.3 billion, nearly twice as much as 2017.
Operation reWired was part of the Justice Department’s intensified efforts in recent years to crack down on internet financial fraud. Among other measures, the department has set up an internal BEC Counteraction Group to coordinate cases.
Through the arrests, "we’re sending a clear message to the criminals who orchestrate these BEC schemes: We’ll keep coming after you, no matter where you are,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “And to the public, we’ll keep doing whatever we can to protect you.”
U.S. and Nigerian officials credited the mass arrests to close cooperation and coordination between their law enforcement agencies.
"Our efforts in coordinating the EFCC/FBI joint operations in Nigeria recorded tremendous successes" against "the infamous yahoo-yahoo boys," said the EFCC's director of information, Mohammed Abba, according to AFP.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the Justice Department has “increased efforts” to combat cyber-enabled financial crimes.
“The coordinated efforts with our domestic and international law enforcement partners around the world has made these most recent actions more successful,” Rosen said.
U.S. officials didn't say whether they have asked Nigerian authorities to extradite the suspects wanted in multiple U.S. jurisdictions from California to Florida.
Hassan Mohammed Hassan, Nigeria’s deputy ambassador to the U.S., told VOA last month that Nigeria will consider any extradition request based on a “verifiable” case.
Last year, a law enforcement operation aimed at BEC scams resulted in the arrest of 74 people and the seizure of $2.4 million, according to the Justice Department.