WASHINGTON (AP) – The email caught the executive at a small company by surprise one morning in 2016. The company’s owner, or so he thought, was requesting a money transfer to pay for supplies from a new vendor.
It wasn’t until that night when the executive, hours after the money had been transferred and still puzzled by the out-of-the-blue demand, texted the owner to make sure he’d heard the request correctly.
The befuddled reply was disheartening: “I just saw your message about a wire transfer today. What is that about?”
It was all part of a fraud scam that targeted companies, schools and nonprofits in Connecticut and elsewhere in the United States and that resulted this month in a 45-month prison sentence for one of the culprits. The case is part of a seemingly endless cycle of money laundering schemes that law enforcement officials say they’re scrambling to slow through a combination of prosecution and public awareness.
Beyond the run-of-the-mill plots, officials say, is a particularly concerning trend involving “money mules” – people who, unwittingly or not, use their own bank accounts to move money for criminals for purposes they think are legitimate or even noble.