281 people were arrested over a four-month period in the U.S. and in countries around the world as part of Operation reWired, a coordinated effort of multiple law enforcement agencies from several countries, according to Bleeping Computer
“In unraveling this complex, nationwide identity theft and tax fraud scheme, we discovered that the conspirators stole more than 250,000 identities and filed more than 10,000 fraudulent tax returns, attempting to receive more than $91 million in refunds,” said Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation.
Besides the arrests made on U.S. territory, Operation reWired also resulted in 167 arrests in Nigeria, 18 in Turkey, and 15 in Ghana, with a number of others also made in France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, and the UK.
Overall, BEC victims have lost over $1,2 billion during 2018 according to an Internet Crime report published on April 2019 by FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
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