Fraudsters buy $1.4 million in stamps from a major auction house in the U.S. and get their victims to foot the bill, according to the FBI.The FBI seized nearly 150 lots of collectible stamps from an auction house, believing they'd been purchased with funds derived from fraud.o launder funds stolen in FBI impersonation and romance frauds, a group of scammers have turned to a novel kind of asset: collectible stamps.
In some cases, the alleged swindle began with a fake government agent contacting a target, telling them their bank accounts or personal data were in imminent danger of being stolen, and tricking them into sending their money into a purportedly safe account for temporary safekeeping by the agency, investigators said. In others, the victim was convinced they were in legal trouble and needed to pay up or face arrest.
Scammers often seek to buy items with stolen funds — especially valuable collectibles whose worth has the potential to appreciate — to turn the dirty money into a “clean” asset. When money launderers then sell the items later, they can claim they were a legitimate investment, profit, and further separate themselves from the original scam’s fraudulentl bank transfers.