Romance scammers turn victims into "money mules," creating a legal minefield for investigators
CBSN
In the first months of her online relationship with a man calling himself Frank Borg, Laura Kowal was showered with love notes and spent hours on giddy phone calls. By year two, those exchanges were methodical and transactional, with Frank instructing Kowal how to set up fake companies and bank accounts to move money.
"I believe that she got so deep into this scam, and realized she was being scammed, and when she tried getting out of it, she became what is known in these scams as a 'money mule,'" Kowal's daughter, Kelly Gowe, explained. "They got her hooked into it."
Laura Kowal's experience of being drained of her savings and then manipulated into helping overseas-based scammers hide and move money — even setting up new fake profiles for them — is part of a diabolical new twist to the nation's romance scam crisis, law enforcement officials told CBS News.
Delays at major U.S. airports across the country persist as Transportation Security Administration officers continue to work without pay and call-outs mount as the partial government shutdown drags on. In:
For U.S. consumers, soaring oil prices due to the Iran war don't just mean pain at the pump — the impact is also likely to be felt by shoppers both in stores and online. In:
A second Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,200 Marines and three warships is headed toward the Middle East, as the war with Iran continues. In:
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In:
Police in Barcelona, Spain, said the death of James "Jimmy" Gracey, a University of Alabama student from Illinois who went missing on vacation, was likely an accident. In:
A 31-year-old Georgia woman has been charged with murder by police who say she took pills to induce an abortion in violation of a state law that bans it after the earliest weeks of pregnancy. In:
The Justice Department says it has shuttered four websites that were allegedly used by Iranian government-linked groups to post hacked information and threaten regime critics.
A federal arts commission on Thursday approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing President Trump's image to help celebrate America's 250th birthday on July 4. In:
The Federal Communication Commission announced Thursday evening that it had approved the $6.2 billion merger of major broadcast station owners Nexstar and Tegna. The move came on the same day that attorneys general in eight states and DirecTV filed separate lawsuits seeking to block the deal, arguing that it will lead to higher prices for consumers and stifle local journalism. In:
Requiring photo ID to vote and proving citizenship to register both find wide and often bipartisan support. In:
Mortgage rates in the U.S. jumped this week to the highest level in three months, as the Iran war fans inflation fears and puts pressure on the U.S. housing market. Edited by Alain Sherter In:
Soaring energy prices due to the Iran war could provide a massive windfall for U.S. oil companies. Edited by Alain Sherter In:
Washington — Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Miami as part of the Justice Department's investigation into Obama-era intelligence officials, two sources familiar with the investigation tell CBS News.