Two fraudsters capitalized on the hype around both cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, advertising an "artificial intelligence automated trading bot" that they promised would earn large returns for their investors. Instead, however, the fraudsters spent the money on themselves, paying for private chartered jet flights, luxury hotel accommodations, private mansion rentals, a personal chef, and private security guards.In addition to pulling off the original scam, the fraudsters also came up with a fake investigative agency called the "Federal Crypto Reserve", where they directed victims who were seeking to recover their losses.The scammers were charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, which carry hefty maximum prison terms.
Re ‘re-scamming’
I heard that in redteaming (legally breaking into places to test their security) there is a trick that when you are caught you say ‘no dont kick us out, this was allowed, call person X he works here’ while giving a phone number of one of your accomplices who sits nearby in the van so the break in can carry on. Always thought that was a clever trick.
That reminds me of an academic publishing scheme–some journals ask for the names/email addresses of potential referees. There was a group that supplied bogus email addresses that led back to the original authors, who would duly reply with highly laudatory referee reports. What caught them out was that the authors sent back the bogus reports the next day or two after the journal requests; real referees wait till the last minute and even then only reply after the journal’s requested deadline and prodding by the journal editors.