Skip to main content

Hundreds arrested in global effort to tackle email scammers

More than 280 people accused of carrying out email scams for financial gain have been arrested in a global operation spanning 10 countries, the FBI revealed this week.

Seventy-four of the suspects were arrested in the United States, 167 in Nigeria, and 18 in Turkey, with others detained in the U.K., France, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Ghana, and Kenya.

Recommended Videos

The suspects allegedly engaged in so-called Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes designed to trick people into sending cash via wire transfers.

A number of the cases involve international crime gangs that defrauded small- to large-sized businesses, the FBI said, while others targeted individuals — including the elderly — tricking them into transferring large amounts of money or sensitive information. Collectively, the victims are believed to have been scammed out of around $1.3 billion in 2018 alone, though the true figure may never be known.

All kinds of scams

According to the FBI, BEC schemes often take place alongside other forms of fraud, including so-called “romance scams” where victims are lulled into believing they’re in a legitimate relationship before being tricked into sending money to their “partner.”

Employment-related scams involving bogus work-from-home jobs are also popular among cybercriminals, with victims persuaded to send “overpayments” to the “employer’s” bank account.

Other deceptions can involve online vehicle sales, property rentals, and contests such as “international lotteries” where victims are persuaded to send fees or taxes before receiving their payout. Which never arrives.

In cases where businesses are targeted, employees with access to funds could be tricked into sending large payments to an account operated by a fraudster, as happened in a high-profile case involving Japan Airlines a couple of years ago.

The FBI began working with overseas investigators in May 2019, leading to the arrest of 281 suspects. So far, around $3.7 million has been recovered, a tiny fraction of the total amount believed to have been stolen in the scams.

“Anyone who engages in deceptive practices like this should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in a release.

Echoing his comments, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said: “We’re sending a clear message to the criminals who orchestrate these BEC schemes: We’ll keep coming after you, no matter where you are. And to the public, we’ll keep doing whatever we can to protect you.”

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
WWDC 2025: Apple announces iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and more
Major updates to iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS
WWDC 2025 logo

Apple kicked off WWDC 2025 with its keynote presentation at its annual World Wide Developer's conference, and it was a bumper affair.

We were treated to a raft of updates across all of the firm's software platforms, as we were introduced to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

Read more
ChatGPT was down: how the June 10 OpenAI outage unfolded
AI assistant ChatGPT and image creator Sora were down as part of a major OpenAI outage
ChatGPT logo on a phone

The popular AI assistant ChatGPT, and image generator Sora, suffered significant downtime as part of a major OpenAI outage today, June 10.

Downdetector showed reports regarding a ChatGPT outage started shortly before 12am PDT overnight and into June 10. This wasn't the first time we've seen ChatGPT go down, with an outage also occurring back in December 2024.

Read more
For gamers on a budget — this Amazon Basics gaming monitor is on sale for $110
The Amazon Basics 27-inch Full HD gaming monitor on a white background.

If you're still using a basic display with your gaming PC, then you're not maximizing its capabilities. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on an upgrade though, as you can get the 27-inch Amazon Basics Full HD gaming monitor for only $110 right now. That's a $40 discount from Amazon on its original price of $150, but we're not sure for how much longer, so we highly recommend proceeding with your purchase as soon as possible on one of the most affordable monitor deals for gamers today.

Why you should buy the 27-inch Amazon Basics Full HD gaming monitor

Read more