Financial Crime Online

How about that? That certainly is a first time we heard that (or even thought of that). Members of a meth ring got busted this week, nothing new there. The proceeds of the drug sales were invested into 100 boxes of first-edition collectible comic books. Investigators say one title alone is worth $3,500 and the [...]

Police in south China say they have broken up an underground bank that illegally sent 10 billion yuan (1.46 billion U.S. dollars) of laundered criminal cash abroad since 2004.  Around 200 police officers raided the underground bank in Fangchenggang in May this year and seized 70 deposit books, 590 bank cards, two cars, six computers and [...]

Three Yemeni immigrants conspired to put more than $100,000 into overseas bank accounts they thought were controlled by Hezbollah, U.S. prosecutors say.  The NY shopkeepers, Alomari, Al Huraibi and Saeed are standing trial on money-laundering charges in U.S. District Court in Rochester, N.Y. The case started by investigating over 300 CTR’s (currency transaction reports) that were [...]

Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad and his assistant were arrested in 2003 in Germany after an undercover operation that involved two FBI informants. The FBI bugged a hotel room where the sheik and the informants met. Sheik Al-Moayad promised to funnel $2 million to Hamas and al-Qaida in return for financial support for a bakery and [...]

In the war against terrorism we have lost a lot of battles. And won some. From a financial crime (terrorism financing) point of view we have had our successes and failures. We do everything we can to stop money flowing to terror groups. Given reports that Al Qaeda is strapped for cash our measures seem [...]

According to the Department of Justice, Californina based company Control Components Inc. (CCI) pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. CCI apparently bribed officials and employees of state owned companies in 36 countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia and UAE. CCI agreed to pay a $18 million criminal fine and to set [...]

Statistics provided by the Canadian Bankers Association shows combined annual losses due to debit and credit card fraud in Canada exceeded $500 million in 2008.  The Canadian Criminal Intelligence Service issued its 2008 report The majority of credit card fraud losses are attributed to counterfeiting and fraudulent purchases. Hackers are targeting online sites to steal data [...]