The FBI seized nearly 150 plenty of collector stamps at an auction house since it believed they’d been acquired through fraudulent means.
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TTo launder funds stolen from the FBI through identity fraud and romance scams, a gaggle of fraudsters has turned to a novel variety of asset: collectible stamps.
At least that is what the actual FBI says, which announced in a search warrant that it had seized 149 plenty of stamps related to the fraud on the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, which bills itself because the world’s leading philatelic auction house.
While the FBI didn’t name any suspects, it said three unidentified buyers from India purchased nearly $1.4 million price of stamps on the auction house, with $1 million of that being paid for with “proceeds of crime stolen from identified victims.”
In some cases, the alleged scam began when a fake government agent contacted a victim and told them their bank accounts or personal information were in imminent danger of being stolen. He tricked the victim into transferring their money to a supposedly secure account that the agency was temporarily holding, investigators said. In other cases, the victim was convinced they were in legal trouble and needed to pay up or face arrest.
The scammer would either ask victims to send checks on to the auction house’s checking account, convincing them it was a secure account that law enforcement had access to, or to a different victim to create further distance from the scam. These secondary victims were typically the targets of romance scams, wherein a cybercriminal establishes an intimate relationship with an individual online, either to steal from them or to entrap them in a money laundering scheme. In this case, the romance scam victims would deposit the checks sent by the unique victim after which send recent checks to the auction house, creating further distance between the unique scam and the stamp payment.
“We hope that the alleged perpetrators will be brought to justice and held accountable through reparations to the victims of the alleged crimes.”
Fraudsters often try to make use of stolen money to purchase items—especially worthwhile collectibles which will still increase in value—so as to turn the dirty money into “clean” assets. When money launderers later sell the items, they will claim it was a legitimate investment, make a profit, and further distance themselves from the fraudulent bank transfers of the unique scam.
In one example from the seizure warrant, a suspected imposter posing as the pinnacle of the FTC’s Financial Crimes Division named Alan Fitch told a victim that the Department of Homeland Security was going to arrest them because their Social Security number was linked to fraudulent bank accounts. The alleged charges were “conspiracy against America for money laundering, fraud and terrorism.” The FTC impersonator allegedly told the victim that they needed to supply the agency with money for safekeeping while the federal government determined what was occurring. The victim sent a check for $45,900 to a romance scam victim, who later sent a separate check to the auction house.
The Justice Department declined to comment further on the case. No charges have been filed in reference to the investigation.
“We have cooperated with the FBI and Department of Justice investigations since the fraud was first brought to our attention,” said Scott Trepel, president of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries. “We hope that the alleged perpetrators will be brought to justice and held accountable through compensation to the victims of the alleged crimes.”
Romance and identity scams remain major sources of income for cybercriminals, although law enforcement has made great strides in tracking illicit funds lately. Just on Thursday, Interpol announced that a worldwide police operation in 61 countries targeting transnational organized crime networks had seized $257 million price of assets linked to such scams. This included money and cryptocurrency, in addition to real estate, luxury cars and “high-value items and collections.”
