Links in “Financial Crime”

The former CEO and her husband, a Baltimore County police sergeant, are now facing theft charges for allegedly embezzling more than $100,000 from the HealthCare United Federal Credit Union. Between the two there are multiple charges of theft and conspiracy to commit theft. [9/9/15]

To get around demanding extradition requirements and the secrecy laws of some foreign countries, U.S. law enforcement officials are luring people who help clients establish offshore shell companies to the U.S. by dangling in front of them lucrative opportunities. Two men with a private jet equipped with a safe insisted that the people they were meeting pack their cash in a Louis Vuitton bag because they thought real cops could never afford such an expensive item. [9/9/15]

A former executive at Houston Police FCU is alleged to have created a highly sophisticated system that skirted redundant internal controls over a long period of time. [9/8/15]

Campaign launched to protect America's seniors from financial fraud. [9/8/15]

A financial fraud case on the FBI's site targeted young women in shopping malls, recruiting them to participate in an upcoming hair show, offering to pay them for their services, but requiring their debit card numbers to access their accounts. Checks would be deposited, then cash immediately withdrawn before the bank realized the fraud. If the women became skeptical, the scammers had a Plan B that was even worse. [9/1/15]

Cybercriminals are compromising official email accounts of U.S. businesses and using those accounts to initiate fraudulent wire transfers. More than 7,000 U.S. businesses have been victimized by this scam, with actual and attempted losses of more than $700 million. [8/31/15]

The FBI has released sketches of three people they believe were involved in the abduction of both credit union and bank employees in Tennessee. The employees were then forced to withdraw funds from their financial institutions. The FBI is also offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of those involved in these crimes. [8/27/15]

The investigation is linked to accounts tied to four businesses affiliated with Mexican billionaire Carlos Hank Rhon, a businessman involved in banking and other industries. Citigroup says it is expanding its regulatory and compliance functions, with plans in place to have 30,000 people working in those areas by the end of the year, a 15% increase from the end of 2014. [8/17/15]

A new device has been found in use in ATMs in Mexico that can read data directly off of a chip-enabled debit or credit card. The “shimmer” as it’s being called, acts as a shim between the EMV chip and the chip reader, and records the chip data as it’s being read by the ATM. [8/14/15]

It was working like a charm until the duo tried to make a fraudulent cash advance at Municipal Credit Union in Sioux City, Iowa. The scheme involved the use of fraudulent credit cards that were presented for cash advances at multiple financial institutions in multiple states. When the cash advance was denied, the couple encouraged the tellers to contact the customer service number, which was manned by an accomplice who authorized the transactions. [8/14/15]