‘Money mule’ arrested after Ohio man scammed out of $1.3M
HOLMESVILLE, Ohio (WJW) – A 68-year-old Holmes County man was enjoying his golden years in the peaceful village of Holmesville, but his world was turned upside down after he responded to a message from what turned out to be a scam artist on Facebook, asking about his interest in hunting.
“They do hundreds and thousands of attempts to talk to people to get them enticed, and out of that, they’re lucky if they get less than 5% to bite the bait,” said Tim Dimoff, a cyber security expert based in Akron.
According to court documents, the scammer then hooked the retiree by offering him a chance to go on a big game hunting trip to Africa and invited him to become a partner in a high return investment.
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The online swindler convinced the victim to use an encrypted phone app and in a series of messages, told him that if he agreed to make an initial investment of $100,000 and delivered it in cash to a courier outside a Lowe’s store in Mt. Vernon, the money would be invested in cryptocurrency.
“That should be a huge red flag to stop and really consider the fact that this probably and should be considered high-rated criminal behavior,” said Dimoff.
However, the scammer was able to persuade the victim to make a total of six trips to meet the courier outside Lowe’s and hand over a total of $1.3 million in cash.
Fake online statements created by the scammer convinced the victim that his investment in crypto had a value of $15 million.
However, after he was unable to withdraw money from the bogus account, he finally realized that he had been duped.
He then filed a complaint with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office and detectives called in the FBI.
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Federal agents then set up a sting operation, asking the victim to pretend that he wanted to invest even more money.
According to the court documents, the scammer sent a so-called “money mule,” identified as Lin Kai of New York, to pick up what turned to be controlled counterfeit currency.
Kai was arrested by the FBI on a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“They use the mules because they want to put something between the perpetrator and the victim and they know that the FBI and other law enforcement are looking for this,” said Dimoff.
Lin Kai told federal investigators that the mastermind of the cyber scam paid him $2,000 for each bundle of cash that he picked up, but Kai claimed that he does not know the true identity of the scammer.
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