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Email scammers tout assets of deposed Arab leaders (Reuters) - Scam emails supposedly from close aides or relatives of deposed Arab leaders are offering a huge chunk of their assets if recipients hand over their bank details or pay a fee up front. "The quantity of attacks of this sort that we detect is enormous," said Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at Sophos, which uses sophisticated spam filters to identify scam emails. In one email, a scammer pretends to be the wife of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. She says she has managed to escape to Tunisia and is...

In the middle of last month, the Bank of China quietly announced a startling new bank account available to America citizens. At one of three Bank of China branches in the United States–two in New York and one in Los Angeles–an American can walk in, open an account and convert their grubby dollars into the currency of the hottest, and arguably the most important, economy in the world, the Chinese renminbi. To get a better sense of what this is all about, I went to the Bank of China's main branch in Manhattan on 5th Avenue and 48th Street. The...

Note: The following text is a quote: Al Qaeda Supporter Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorist Organization Kansas City Man Also Admits to Bank Fraud, Overseas Money Laundering KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering. “National security is the highest priority of the Department of Justice,” Phillips said. “I applaud the diligent work of our...

May 27, 2007 Chirac and the ‘secret £30m account in Japan’ Matthew Campbell ON HOLIDAY last week, Jacques Chirac, the former French leader, took his usual suite at La Gazelle d’Or, a luxury hotel in Morocco. He may consider extending his restful sojourn under the palms indefinitely. It has emerged that besides being questioned about an illegal fundraising scandal when his immunity from prosecution expires on June 17, Chirac will also face a grilling over £30m he allegedly kept in a secret Japanese bank account. He had previously denied the existence of any account but judges investigating a separate scandal...

China unfreezes some N. Korean accounts in Macau bank: source BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- China has unfrozen some accounts of North Korea in a Macau bank which has been suspected of involvement in money laundering for Pyongyang, a diplomatic source said Monday.

It was confirmed on September 18 that North Korea asked to open a Woori Bank account in Gaesong Industrial Complex as an outlet for escaping U.S. financial sanctions imposed on the country. At a meeting with related parties including the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the National Intelligence Service, the government discussed whether to accept North’s request, but failed to make a decision yet. According to Grand National Party lawmaker Kwon Young-se and other sources, North Korean Central Special Zone Development Management called on Woori Bank’s Gaesong branch...

U.S. Traces North Korean Money to Russia // And may accuse Russia of violating nonproliferation rules Scandal The American Center for Nonproliferation Studies released a report yesterday claiming that North Korean authorities, with the help of private Russian companies, are providing ballistic missile to third countries, Iran, Syria and Pakistan in particular. This information comes at the same time as a scandal is unfolding over the North Korean regime's transfer of a considerable part of its bank accounts to Russia, skirting American sanctions. Although these accusations are only coming from NGOs right now, they may become the case of the...

/begin my excerpt N. Korean Special Train Reportedly Crossed Sino-N. Korean Border The government sources said that it has intelligence which says that N. Korean special train crossed Yalu River into China on Aug. 29. However, they cautioned that they are not certain Kim Jong-il is on board. /end my excerpt

Vietnam already shut down N.K. accounts in past few weeks: ICG Seoul director WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- Vietnamese banks have already closed down North Korean accounts over the past few weeks, most likely forcing Pyongyang to move its money to its last remaining haven, Russia, said Peter Beck, head of the International Crisis Group's Seoul office, on Tuesday. Beck said Nigel Cowie, general manager of North Korea's Daedong Credit Bank in Pyongyang, e-mailed him last week and said Vietnamese banks have shut down Daedong's and other North Korea-held accounts. Daedong expected such a move by Vietnam after U.S. Treasury...

To whom it may concern: I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his depositing the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly transfer of funds from my modest savings account, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty-one years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by...

A RETIRED banker living in Switzerland spent 10 years helping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hide millions of dollars via a bank account under the name of Satan, Britain's Sunday Times has reported. Elio Borradori, 75, funnelled millions of dollars in "commissions" and "consultancy fees" into companies controlled by Saddam's appointees, operating through Panama, the Bahamas and Switzerland, according to the report. US officials estimate Saddam channelled between $10 billion and $18 billion into accounts around the world, which must now be tracked down. The British government today estimated Saddam's riches could total as much as $33 billion. One of Saddam's...

<p>A notorious e-mail scam has resulted in the murder of a Nigerian diplomat in the Czech Republic.</p> <p>Fifty-year-old Michael Lekara Wayid, Nigeria's consul in the Czech Republic, was shot dead by an unidentified 72-year-old Czech at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague on Thursday.</p>