Comment by tehlike
6 months ago
One thing I didn't get is if he wired the money to a bank account (and not a random cryptocurrency address), how could they not found the scammers who did this.
6 months ago
One thing I didn't get is if he wired the money to a bank account (and not a random cryptocurrency address), how could they not found the scammers who did this.
The terms of art here are money laundering and "Money Mule" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_mule
Basically, the real scammers have a series of people who have bank accounts, but don't know the true identity of the scammer, and those people receive the wire and transfer the money in some other form.
Often, the "Money mules" don't even know they're part of a crime, and are told they're receiving legitimate money to their personal accounts, withdrawing it, and transporting it somewhere.
Sure, you can track down and try to arrest the money mules, but it doesn't feel great to arrest someone who was only an unknowing participant.
Thank you, I briefly read about mules before. It makes sense
Because law enforcement in the US is corrupt and incompetent. They prosecute those who undermine them, instead of scammers who undermine American citizens. It's crazy the number of cases I see towards those who convert Bitcoin for US dollars due to circumventing MSB laws that allegedly enables money launderers but have no proof, while there are those who are provably stealing money who never get caught or even investigated.
Just try and find a case of fraud that was reported and successfully resolved by the FTC for an average American. I know people who have collectively lost over $1m who have never, and probably will never, see any resolution to their case. Some scams even have public founders and work using traditional financial rails.
Normally if mucking around with crypto you wire the money to a broker such as Coinbase or Kraken who then change it to crypto and then it goes off to random cryptocurrency addresses. The article doesn't say which institution it went to but they were probably not the scammers themselves.
What makes you think the bank account wouldn't be stolen, opened in a foreign country, or opened with false credentials?
I believe he sent it to be converted into crypto, which he sent to a random cryptocurrency address.
I don't get that impression and the article doesnt say
There are bank accounts in random countries he goes to visit or thinks he needs to visit, and an article saying money from the bank is wired directly into a crypto wallet, which is impossible. I’ve used institutional OTC desks that convert your incoming wire into a crypto asset and address of your choice at a pre negotiated exchange rate, but that is such a specific thing that you cant accidentally do
No crypto was harmed in this scam
The article makes it sound like it was wired directly to a crypto wallet in Hong Kong
Bank or not, good luck tracing anything through China. Odds are good this could have even been a nation state level scam run by North Korea. They get a lot of funding this way.
"Wiring to a crypto wallet" isn't a thing. It'd be crypto product of the century if it existed.
Isn’t Hong Kong still somewhat independent with its own government, laws, etc?
I’m sure it’s a complicated situation, and with this exploit alone being on the order of tens of millions of dollars, the attackers would have secured their transaction flow from the West