The FBI charged New York men by generating $1.7 million in revenue through counterfeit checks and business email compromise fraud, then converting most of their unfair profits. Bitcoin.
Tushal Rathod of Baldwinsville, New York was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering due to crimes committed between November 2021 and June 2024.
Business email compromise scammers steal login credentials, primarily through “spearphishing” cyber campaigns. Information about the company’s future payments will be intercepted and the vendor will be deceived to complete the transaction via the fake domain.
A court filing written by FBI special agent Samuel Morgan, the 44-year-old has been accused of receiving funds through a network of seven bank accounts at six different financial institutions, with $1.2 million worth of BTC being sent to an external address.
The FBI alleges that at least three of these banks warned Rathod that the funds entered his accounts were from fraudulent sources, and that the defendant was accused of forging bills to create an illusion of legitimate income.
One institution, M&T Bank, has shown the invoice to the victim and confirmed it was fraudulent. A police report was filed and Rutod claimed he was the person who had been scammed. He then failed to provide further requested documents.
“Based on my training and experience, individuals engaged in fraud schemes often open multiple bank accounts under the name of a business entity to receive funds from the victim and mix other seemingly legitimate funds with victim funds and move them to other accounts,” writes Morgan.
Elsewhere in the court filing, it is said that Ruthod “employed” his girlfriend and some of his family to help with the plan.
“Citibank was able to recover $800,000 of these fraudulent funds, but more than $1 million in additional dollars were deposited in an account managed by Rathod’s girlfriend and family,” the FBI agent added.
In February 2023, Rathod allegedly bought 20.18 BTC and 20.16 BTC in two transactions (total of $900,000), and that day sent it to an unidentified recipient.
Records obtained by Google suggest that he complained to his associates that his bank account was being closed continuously.
One witness who advanced to the FBI was a former partner, the mother of a six-year-old child. She claimed she suspected money laundering due to suspicious screenshots of the device. This included evidence of crypto transactions and conversations in other languages.
Rathod faces 20 years after the bar if convicted.
Discover more from Earlybirds Invest
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
