“The scammers are extremely well organized and law enforcement is not.” Costliest type of cybercrime siphons billions from the economy as authorities struggle to keep up. And it’s not ransomware.
The huge payoffs and low risks associated with BEC scams have attracted criminals worldwide. Some flaunt their ill-gotten riches on social media, posing in pictures next to Ferraris, Bentleys and stacks of cash.
In the nail salon case involving Grand Rapids, police say $2.8 million was stolen. Banks were able to recall about half that amount once the scam was discovered, court records show. Police put the couple under surveillance and in October searched their apartment, offices and BMW, court records show. Police said earlier this year they needed more time to examine the data in the couple’s phones and computers.
“There’s so many of them they can’t possibly work them all,” said Hassold, now director of threat intelligence at Abnormal Security. But security experts say the wave of arrests has had little impact, and the FBI’s own numbers show that BEC scams continue to grow at a rapid clip.Many of those arrested by U.S. authorities are lower-level “money mules,” who move stolen money around the banking system until it’s out of reach to authorities.
the issue directly with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, where many ransomware operators are located. Nowhere are BEC fraudsters more active than in Africa’s most populous nation, where scammers have able to operate almost unchecked for decades. The well-worn Nigerian Prince scam may now be a global punchline, but a new generation is making fortunes through sophisticated BEC fraud.
Pete Renals, a threat researcher at Palo Alto’s Unit 42, said tech-savvy Nigerian criminals started learning how to use available malware to steal victims’ credentials around 2014. As the software changed, the scammers changed too. In 2018, he said, researchers started seeing Nigerian malware being developed in-country by the BEC scammers themselves.
But just days before he made those comments, Okeke had been busy sending fake invoices and defrauding the British sales office of the heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar out of $11 million through a BEC scam, according to the FBI. He was arrested at Dulles Airport outside Washington in 2019, pleaded guilty to wire fraud a year later and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence.
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