US authorities have sentenced Kevin Dewayne Kirby to 57 months in jail for laundering more than $500,000 from two wire fraud scams. Kirby had pleaded guilty to his ML charges on July 22, 2021.
The first scam involved scammers pretending to be from the IRS and calling victims to convince them that they had to immediately pay some tax dues to the IRS if they wished to avoid arrest. Threatened victims would then transfer the requested amount to bank accounts that Kirby or his co-conspirators controlled. The second scam involved scammers pretending to work for a fake computer service company and coercing victims either to pay a fee to repair or update their computers, or to repay fake ‘accidental’ refunds that the company had transferred into the victims’ accounts.
To commit these crimes, Kirby and co-conspirators used bank accounts linked to eight different companies. After receiving the money in these accounts, they transferred it through wire transfers, cash withdrawals, money orders or cashier’s checks. Kirby conducted all transactions in a manner that allowed him to hide the illicit nature of the funds.
Source: US Department of Justice