Scattered Canary is a Nigerian fraud ring. During the
COVID-19 lockdowns
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...
in 2020, the group used
business email compromise
Email spoofing is the creation of email messages with a forged sender address. The term applies to email purporting to be from an address which is not actually the sender's; mail sent in reply to that address may bounce or be delivered to an unrel ...
and, according to the
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security tasked with conducting criminal investigations and providing protection to American political leaders, thei ...
, "hundreds if not thousands" of
money mule
A money mule, sometimes called a "smurfer", is a person who transfers money acquired illegally, such as by theft or fraud. Money mules transfer funds in person, through a courier service, or electronically, on behalf of others. Typically, the mule ...
s to defraud U.S. state unemployment agencies. A security firm that tracked the group said they started in 2009 committing
Craigslist scams, then in 2015 began
phishing
Phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticate ...
, and in 2016 were committing tax return fraud and credit card fraud, before specializing in ripoffs of government agencies in 2017. The
Washington State Employment Security Department said that the group had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from it in 2020; an estimate of the loss by the
Washington State Auditor
The state auditor of Washington is an independently elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Washington. Eleven individuals have held the office since statehood. The incumbent is Pat McCarthy, ...
runs as high as over $600 million. In 2021, investigative journalists reported having accessed a 13-page "how to" guide published by Scattered Canary on defrauding the Texas unemployment system, which paid out over $800 million in fraudulent claims.
References
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*{{cite news , last1=Brunner , first1=Jim , last2=Roberts , first2=Paul , last3=Malone , first3=Patrick , date=May 24, 2020 , title=How missed 'red flags' helped Nigerian fraud ring 'Scattered Canary' bilk Washington's unemployment system amid coronavirus chaos , url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/how-missed-red-flags-helped-nigerian-fraud-ring-scattered-canary-bilk-washingtons-unemployment-system-amid-coronavirus-chaos/ , work=The Seattle Times , access-date=May 26, 2020
Crimes in Washington (state)
Internet fraud
Organized crime in Nigeria
COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
2020 in Washington (state)
May 2020 crimes in the United States