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Inside A Money-Laundering-From-Home Operation
from the how-it-works dept
Steve Bryant, over at GoogleWatch, has gone through a recent subpoena from US Immigration and Customs to Yahoo where they're trying to catch an online counterfeit money laundering scammer that gives you a decent idea of how the scam works. Basically, the scammers (in Ghana) advertise online for people in the US who want to "work from home." They then send them packages of counterfeit travellers checks. The recipient is asked to take the bundles out of one FedEx box, move them to another and ship them to someone else's house. The next person (who thinks they're dealing with an entirely different company), is told to cash the checks, keep 10% for themselves, and then send the rest to someone else outside the country who likely doesn't exist and is simply a place for the money to go. That way, the scammers send a bunch of counterfeit money into the US, it gets moved around a few times making it harder to track, and then is converted to valid currency by someone who doesn't realize they're using counterfeit money. You would think that those who sign up for such money-laundering-from-home operations would be a bit more suspicious, but as long as they're getting paid for shipping around boxes or wiring money, they don't seem to care very much.
Reader Comments
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Sounds great!
Sounds like a great second job. Where do I sign up?
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These guys from Ghana never stop - I'm amazed at their ingenuity. Can you imagine if they took that genius and created legitimate businesses. It’s unfortunate that they are giving the entire country a bad rap. Of course the criminals don't care because they are laughing all the way to the bank or the stuffed mattresses.
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@CB
Capitalising on people's greed isn't limited to Ghana. There's nothing to stop a nefarious western citizen doing precisely the opposite - sending counterfeit currency to a third world country where desire for plenty is even more prevalent...wait a minute...er...I've...er...I've just got to nip to the Post Office...
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@CB
Capitalising on people's greed isn't limited to Ghana. There's nothing to stop a nefarious western citizen doing precisely the opposite - sending counterfeit currency to a third world country where desire for plenty is even more prevalent...wait a minute...er...I've...er...I've just got to nip to the Post Office...
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Money?
I've read about it, i know about it, I'm in!! except I'll just keep all the money now I know.... Yay Ghana!
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yeah, sounds like a great place to make some extra cash (uhh, yeah keep all 100% and mail an empty box back outta the US or wherever.)
the scammers shouldn't dare to bother with you
the FBI may eventually, but easy enough to cry scam and point the finger elsewhere. yeah, I'll even give up my 10% earned to the feds *wink* *wink*
where was it, yahoo? foo. I'm off to do some searches for "work at home" -scam :D
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Find These On Job Sites
Sign up for any major job search site - Monster, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder - and you will start getting these offers by email. They look so damn real, until, if one reads the whole email, you begin to realize that moving cash can't be completely kosher.
Of course, there will always be those who fall for it, and will cry "I'm A Victim" when they lose money or get arrested.
Just keep sending the emails to Spamcop and get these clowns blacklisted.
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job offer
i got one of these that said it was from russia when my resume was on Monster awhile ago.
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