MISSISSIPPI – Fifteen people who were named in an eight-count federal indictment were arrested today in South Africa, Canada and the United States for being involved in a massive marketing scheme, officials said.
A total of 19 individuals have been arrested.
Investigators have identified hundreds of victims of this scam in the United States, resulting in the loss of millions of U.S. dollars.
The indictments allege the involvement of a West African transnational organized crime enterprise engaged in numerous complex financial fraud schemes over the internet.
This mass marketing fraud includes romance scams, re-shipping scams, fraudulent check scams and work-at-home scams, along with bank, financial and credit card account take-overs, officials said.
The investigation began in October 2011, by Homeland Security Investigations agents in Gulfport, Miss., after U.S. law enforcement officers were contacted by a female victim who was the victim of a sweetheart scam.
The victim received a package in the mail requesting that she reship the merchandise to an address in Pretoria, South Africa.
The investigation later revealed that the merchandise was purchased using stolen personal identity information and fraudulent credit card information of persons in the United States.