NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — More than $118,000 will be returned to a Louisiana resident after it was stolen in a computer-based fraud scheme.
According to U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a Verified Complaint for Forfeiture in Rem in January 2023 stating “criminal actors” worked to gain access to a computer belonging to a Louisiana resident without their permission.
Evans said a message telling the victim to call a fake Apple Support number was displayed on the victim’s computer.
The victim reportedly called the number and spoke with a fake Apple Support employee, who “told the victim that hackers had accessed the victim’s computer and made unauthorized financial charges to that account.”
Evans said the victim was then asked to complete a series of tasks on their computer, allowing the hackers to gain access.
About one week later, the victim was contacted by a person pretending to work at a financial institution, telling them to transfer money from that institution to a cryptocurrency platform.
The fake financial representative reportedly said the transfer was necessary “for safekeeping purposes until the Apple Support activity monitor program was complete.”
From July 29, 2022, to Aug. 8, 2022, the victim transferred about $118,753.47 to the cryptocurrency platform.
The victim later contacted the Federal Reserve, Consumer, Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of Inspector General about the scheme’s legitimacy.
Through an investigation, Evans said, “OIG CFPB OIG and United States Secret Service analysts successfully traced funds to the victim’s Coinbase deposits and learned that the funds were quickly laundered through a series of cryptocurrency addresses.”
Evans said the Final Judgment of Forfeiture states that the funds were recovered and will be returned to the victim.
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