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The F.B.I., China’s Ministry of Public Security, Interpol and others have tried to combat scammers, who often lurk on social media and dating apps, luring peop

The F.B.I., China’s Ministry of Public Security, Interpol and others have tried to combat scammers, who often lurk on social media and dating apps, luring people into bogus financial schemes or other ruses. It's the IRS and FBI that does the overwhelming bulk of the investigative work and also opens the investigations. Interpol hardly does anything by comparison and have much less doggedness (it was the US who found Bin Laden for example). It typically helps the US, not actually initiates the investigation. At best its like a sidekick. The question is, does the US get involved. If not, then laundering will work, because the vast majority of countries have neither the inclination or resources to do much. Otherwise, all bets are off. Because the US is unrivaled at this sort of stuff. The article in typical clickbait fashion overplays its claim in the headline and then walks it back in the content. It's not that effective if accounts are constantly being tracked and frozen and if the scammers' profits are heavily diluted in an attempt to launder the money. if anything ,this is a success by imposing a huge cost on scammers and reducing the profitability of said scam.

Jgrace 2y ago
you realise that something's not just clickbait because you don't understand it? Huione is a behemoth in the laundering-sphere; it's intrinsically linked to Cambodian scam compounds, as well as handling every single step of the wash process in-house. These guys don't just receive the stolen funds, but they link international clients with mules across literally thousands of Telegram groups before converting said currency into the Hui-one coin and then onto Tether. All of this is done within Hui-one's infrastructure. If you'd bothered to do just one iota of research into any of the topics covered in the article, you may have stumbled across chainanalysis' report on them from last year. Elliptic, also mentioned, have done comprehensive reports on them. Lazarus Group, who recently stole around a billion from Bybit, frequently move funds through these guys, so did Conti, and many of the other big cyber-threat groups. To your point around it being a huge cost to the scammers, that's a given. Effective laundering is expensive because organised crime groups are most vulnerable at this particular stage of the fraud. A massive decentralised network of groups that can match criminals to a steady flow of international bank accounts that can handle fraudulent funds is pricless.
- ForOldHack 2y ago
  I have seen a few confirmations of this.
CPLX 2y ago
The article makes it pretty clear that China is the jurisdiction that is the hardest to evade.
luckylion 2y ago
> Interpol hardly does anything by comparison and have much less doggedness (it was the US who found Bin Laden for example). It typically helps the US, not actually initiates the investigation. At best its like a sidekick. That's a strange take on a strange article, because the articles is mistaken in that Interpol "tried to combat scammers" - it can't, Interpol is an organization to coordinate cooperation between national law enforcement agencies. They are essentially a large clearing house where national LEAs exchange information and can use databases. Interpol has no agents or investigators. Which makes your take strange too, because you sound very confident that it's "at best" a sidekick, because it doesn't do as much as the FBI and IRS. But knowing what Interpol is and what it does (or rather: what it doesn't), it's pretty clear that you don't know what you're talking about. The article has found its target, your patriotism was tingled and you accepted its premises but felt it necessary to proclaim that the US does much more than the organization that doesn't do that type of work at all.
mmooss 2y ago
Where does your knowledge come from? With respect, how do we know you're right and they're wrong and not vice-versa? They spent a lot of time on it, went to Southeast Asia to see it for themselves, have editors, etc. That doesn't mean they get it right always, but neither do people on HN.

Jgrace 2y ago

you realise that something's not just clickbait because you don't understand it? Huione is a behemoth in the laundering-sphere; it's intrinsically linked to Cambodian scam compounds, as well as handling every single step of the wash process in-house. These guys don't just receive the stolen funds, but they link international clients with mules across literally thousands of Telegram groups before converting said currency into the Hui-one coin and then onto Tether. All of this is done within Hui-one's infrastructure. If you'd bothered to do just one iota of research into any of the topics covered in the article, you may have stumbled across chainanalysis' report on them from last year. Elliptic, also mentioned, have done comprehensive reports on them. Lazarus Group, who recently stole around a billion from Bybit, frequently move funds through these guys, so did Conti, and many of the other big cyber-threat groups. To your point around it being a huge cost to the scammers, that's a given. Effective laundering is expensive because organised crime groups are most vulnerable at this particular stage of the fraud. A massive decentralised network of groups that can match criminals to a steady flow of international bank accounts that can handle fraudulent funds is pricless.

ForOldHack 2y ago
I have seen a few confirmations of this.

CPLX 2y ago

The article makes it pretty clear that China is the jurisdiction that is the hardest to evade.

luckylion 2y ago

> Interpol hardly does anything by comparison and have much less doggedness (it was the US who found Bin Laden for example). It typically helps the US, not actually initiates the investigation. At best its like a sidekick. That's a strange take on a strange article, because the articles is mistaken in that Interpol "tried to combat scammers" - it can't, Interpol is an organization to coordinate cooperation between national law enforcement agencies. They are essentially a large clearing house where national LEAs exchange information and can use databases. Interpol has no agents or investigators. Which makes your take strange too, because you sound very confident that it's "at best" a sidekick, because it doesn't do as much as the FBI and IRS. But knowing what Interpol is and what it does (or rather: what it doesn't), it's pretty clear that you don't know what you're talking about. The article has found its target, your patriotism was tingled and you accepted its premises but felt it necessary to proclaim that the US does much more than the organization that doesn't do that type of work at all.

mmooss 2y ago

Where does your knowledge come from? With respect, how do we know you're right and they're wrong and not vice-versa? They spent a lot of time on it, went to Southeast Asia to see it for themselves, have editors, etc. That doesn't mean they get it right always, but neither do people on HN.