US steps up fight against cyber-fraud networks
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Alwihda Info
Illustrative image · Sora Shimazaki · Pexels · Licence PexelsUS authorities have seized billions of dollars in cryptocurrency and shut down hundreds of fraudulent websites in their campaign against transnational scam centres. The networks, first established in Southeast Asia, are also expanding into Ghana, Nigeria and Madagascar, according to US officials quoted at a Washington press briefing.
The United States has seized billions of dollars in cryptocurrency and shut down hundreds of fraudulent websites as part of its fight against transnational cyber-fraud networks, Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a press briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center. The operations are being carried out by the Scam Center Strike Force, a unit created last year to target scam centres.
The networks, initially based in Southeast Asia, are now expanding their operations to Ghana, Nigeria and Madagascar. The FBI, including through Operation Blackout, is working with private and foreign partners to dismantle their infrastructure and freeze their assets, according to Heith Janke, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. US authorities have also warned about the use of artificial intelligence, fake profiles and dating apps to manipulate victims.
The US strategy combines criminal prosecutions, seizure of profits and prevention campaigns, said Richard Goldberg, director of the Department of Justice’s Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative. It follows the indictment in the United States of a Kenyan in a cryptocurrency scam targeting 800 people on 30 October, and the arrest of another Kenyan employee for overstaying his visa on 29 October.
