Investigating the investigators, no profit in tragedy for identity thieves and more

Investigating the investigators

German prosecutors raided the country’s finance and justice ministries on Sept. 9, 2021, as part of an investigation into whether officials told the Financial Intelligence Unit to ignore alerts from banks about suspect transactions of millions of euros to Africa between 2018 and 2020.

The move was particularly significant because Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who oversees the anti-money laundering agency, heads the SDP party that won the biggest share of votes in the country’s Sept. 26 election.

According to Reuters, the probe comes as the finance ministry is facing scrutiny for its failure to detect wrongdoing at financial services company Wirecard, which imploded last year in Germany’s biggest-ever corporate fraud. The Financial Action Task Force is reviewing Germany’s anti-money laundering efforts. (See “German finance ministry raided in money laundering probe,” by Hans Seidenstuecker and John O’Donnell, Reuters, Sept. 9, 2021.)

No profit in tragedy for identity thieves

As rescue crews searched in June 2021 for survivors of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, four people allegedly collaborated to steal the identities of seven victims of the oceanfront disaster that left 98 people dead.

The suspects were arrested Sept. 8 for identity fraud, use of a counterfeit ID, an organized scheme to defraud and multiple other felonies. According to Miami-Dade County prosecutors, the suspects posed as survivors and convinced banks and credit card companies to send replacement cards to vacant apartments. They stole approximately $45,000 with the victims’ identities.

The scam first came to light when the sister of a victim reported receiving emails about password and address changes to the victim’s bank accounts and credit cards. (See “Identities of Surfside condo collapse victims stolen,” by David Ovalle and Charles Rabin, Miami Herald, Sept. 8, 2021, and “4th Arrest Made in Surfside Condo Collapse Victim Identity Thefts,” NBC6, Sept. 9, 2021.)

Racketeering charges for grandparent scammers

A San Diego federal grand jury has brought charges against eight people from California, Florida and Arizona in the first racketeering suit applied to a “grandparent scam.”

This is the first major case for the newly established San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, and it involved 70 older adults across the U.S. who were conned out of a combined $2 million. (See “Grandparents trying to rescue loved ones were conned out of thousands of dollars,” by Kristina Davis, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 25, 2021.)

The accused, who posed as victims’ relatives, allegedly told them they needed money for a legal problem or accident. Scammers then passed themselves off as lawyers or accident specialists to extract more money to resolve the issue. They also gave instructions to mail funds to the addresses of rental homes or wire money where couriers would retrieve the cash and deposit funds in amounts of less than $10,000, which wouldn’t trigger federal reporting requirements.

Scammers coached the victims to hide what they were doing from family members and how to lie to their banks about the large withdrawals they were making.