Million-dollar crime trail uncovered after woman caught at Perth airport with $190k cash stash
Bureau Report
Image Source: ABF
A routine screening at Perth International Airport has blown the lid off a suspected multi-million-dollar money laundering operation, with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) now restraining about $7 million in assets believed to be proceeds of crime.
The extraordinary investigation began in October 2023 when airport security flagged irregularities in the luggage of a 65-year-old woman preparing to depart Australia. After being referred to the Australian Border Force (ABF), a search uncovered bundles of cash – $191,850 in Australian dollars, along with a small amount of Euros and other currency – concealed in her clothing and suitcase.
The AFP was called in and seized the cash, which the woman allegedly failed to declare. She claimed the money was savings, partly gifted by her family, including her son and daughter-in-law.
Wired: Social media influencer teaches Nigerian Yahoo boys their trade
Part eight on Fraud gangs: Nigeria
Nigerian scammers seem responsible for a larger share of consumer fraud than any other group. Nigeria is a former British colony, fairly well educated, and largely English-speaking. It has a large population of 227 million and thus is quite a bit larger than Russia with 143 million. Despite huge oil reserves, many people are relatively poor. Thus there has been a massive Nigerian Diaspora to other countries around the world; and very large numbers have emigrated to the US, Canada, Europe, Ireland, and Asia. The main law enforcement body in Nigerian, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (the EFCC) has told me that they believe there may be 250,000 Nigerians living in just mainland China.
Scammers from Nigeria, often known as Yahoo boys, are the primary operators of romance scams, but also operate a large number of other frauds, such as Sextortion scams targeting teenage boys, business email compromise fraud, inheritance and lottery fraud, and the theft of government benefits, such as unemployment and PPP fraud.
Often groups operate several different frauds simultaneously, working with partners around the world. Some frauds interlink, such as using romance scam victims as mules to launder money for BEC and other frauds. These frauds also have a strong fraud support network of related enterprises that they employ to provide internet support, move money, make fake web sites and passports, etc. These are just facts. There is no more reason to believe that all, or even most, Nigerians are scammers than it would be to believe all Italians are part of the Mafia.
Next week: The Black Axe
Fraud Studies: Here are links to the studies I’ve written for the Better Business Bureau: puppy fraud, romance fraud; BEC fraud, sweepstakes/lottery fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud, gift cards, free trial offer frauds, job scams, online shopping fraud, fake check fraud and crypto scams
Fraud News Around the world
- Canada: Calgary police arrest Quebec man for grandparent fraud
- Homeland Security separately arrests three illegal aliens from China over scam aimed at elderly victims
- Milwaukee: 70 year old woman indicted for acting as a money mule for tech support frauds; continued doing this while out on bail for similar conduct
- Miami: Thirteenth defendant pleads guilty to fraud involving calls from Peru centers to Spanish-speakers in the US
- Senate minority report finds victims worldwide lost $1 trillion to scams last year
- Singapore: Two week effort reveals 639 scammers and money mules subject to investigations
- Educating can help: how a bank teller and store clerk saved victims from sending money
- Ohio: Man arrested when he went to victim’s home to pick up money; scam unclear but he had claimed to be a federal agent
- Seattle: Jury convicts man who ran a web of call centers which claimed they could prevent home foreclosures by modifying mortgages; took in $5 million
- Nigeria arrests 23 at “Yahoo training academy”
- UK: Black Axe recruiting UK teens into gang
- Nigerian troops arrest 183 online scammers
- Web site to apply for US passports only provides otherwise free forms – for a price
- Connecticut: Man pleads guilty to operating illegal money transmittal service; handled funds for romance frauds
- Indiana: Police arrest man (Chinese?) from Canada who went to homes of elderly victims to collect money; got over $400,000
- New York AG settles with MoneyGram over fraud in its system; $250,000 fine
- Florida man arrested for DUI for driving riding mower on toll road
- Ice cream van operator busted; was carrying meth and other drugs
- Police arrest man who stole 53 right foot shoes from shopping center in Australia
- FTC settles case against business opportunity scam that claimed that victims could make money selling goods on Amazon and WalMart websites; gets ban on engaging in biz opps
- Court rules that Trump’s firing of Commissioner Slaughter was illegal
- DC Circuit pauses reinstatement of fired FTC Commissioners
- FTC sues Arizona debt settlement scam; gets injunction and asset freeze
- Los Angeles: Nigerian man gets more than 11 years prison for using stolen identitites to get unemployment and disability benefits; got $1.3 million
- West Virginia: Jury convicts woman of PPP fraud
- West Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud
- Los Angeles: Former AMTRAK worker gets 25 months prison for theft of unemployment benefits; got $1 million
- Buffalo: Businessman sentenced to time served for PPP fraud; got $31. million
- Houston: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; sought $9.5 million
- Indiana: Woman gets 30 months prison for getting student loans for fake students; even submitted homework to make them seem real; got $930,000
- Chicago: Tax preparer gets 42 months prison for PPP fraud; got $3.6 million
- Cambodia arrests 43 Vietnamese in online scam center bust
- Cambodia arrests 63 at online fraud center; most of them Chinese
- 118 Filipinos wait to be repatriated from Scam Compounds where they were forced to do romance fraud
- Cambodia has recently arrested 75 from Taiwan in raids on scam compounds
- Cambodia arrests 103 from other countries in raids on nine scam locations
- Cambodia arrests 500 more in the last two days at scam compounds
- 2471 from India rescued from scam compounds 2022-2025
- Thailand busts two Chinese-led fraud call centers
- Thailand arrests 19 South Koreans who were running romance frauds
- Crypto exchange BigONE loses $27 million to hackers
- UK seizes seven unregistered Bitcoin ATM’s; two arrested for money laundering
- Florida: Romanian man indicted for ATM skimming
- Rhode Island: Four (Romanians?) in the US illegally plead guilty in skimming case; two others await trial
- Dallas: Three Romanian men arrested for ATM skimming
- Canada: The Canadian Anti-Fraud agency reports that Canadians lost $103 million to crypto romance frauds last year
- WSJ: Should banks do more to help keep people from succumbing to crypto romance frauds?
- Teen boy in Mississippi commits suicide after extortion fraud on Tik Tok; says there have been 20 other similar suicides in the US