Have you heard about a California couple arrested early in August? The couple was arrested on charges of operating a $7 million advance fee Ponzi scheme. Do you want to reveal more about fraud and money laundering? Do you want to know more about this and other similar cases? Well, just keep on reading below.
Fraud and Money Laundering
Wire fraud is a type of crime in which criminals defraud or get access to others’ funds by falsely representing themselves or giving false promises. To do this, they use electronic communications or interstate communications facilities. This means they can call the victim, send him/her fax, an email, or text, as well as social media messaging, and not only.
As for money laundering, in this case, the illegally obtained funds are being sent into a bank or another legal financial institution. Money launderers obtain these funds from criminal activities and carefully channel them into legitimate organizations and businesses. This way, they disguise the true origin of these funds and avoid alerting the authorities.
In the U.S., mail fraud and wire fraud are considered federal crimes that have to do with mailing or electronically transferring something related to fraud. Staying away from fraud is of special importance to eCommerce merchants.
Thankfully, secure and reliable processors like eMerchantBroker.com can help you avoid online payment processing fraud and money laundering without difficulty. EMB is in partnership with Verifi and its new Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN), as well as Ethoca’s alert system.
The CDRN is networking with both banks and card issuers, thus enabling merchants to have direct control over resolving credit transaction disputes. Thanks to these chargeback resolution networks, merchants can be sure to resolve their chargebacks to the highest possible extent. Also, EMB helps merchants enjoy unmatched fraud prevention for payment processing.
eMerchanatBroker.com, voted the #1 high risk processor in the U.S., carries an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is rated A by Card Payment Options. What’s more, ValuePenguin has named EMB as the “Best All-Around High Risk Merchant Account Provider.”
Money Laundering and Wire Fraud Cases
Since April 2017, Torres, Weber, as well as others have owned and operated a number of shell companies. One of these companies has employed individuals residing in New Jersey and working while in New Jersey. It falsely claimed to offer lending services to customers, specifically to small business owners who were interested in high value loans.
Their scheme implied that customers would pay a fee (up to 5%) of a potential total loan amount before receiving their financing. Besides, the victims had received falsified or fraudulent documents from them, such as bank statements, with the purpose of showing that these companies were rich enough to finance those people.
Overall, $7 million was sent to bank accounts controlled by Torres, Weber, and others. Now, they’re charged with fraud conspiracy and money laundering.
Let’s look at another case. Recently, a former Newcastle resident has been charged with a similar case. The thing is that he’d defrauded dozens of investors, who were residents in Seattle and other areas of about $5.8 million. He falsely represented himself as a British billionaire.
This person is Keenan A. Gracey, 28, who pretended to offer stock that he didn’t have and had no right to sell. Now, he’s pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
As you see, money laundering and wire fraud cases are still a hot-button topic. The good news is that there’re secure and trustworthy merchant services providers that can offer you exceptional fraud prevention techniques to avoid falling into the fraudster’s trap.