Foreign fraudsters - watch out. The regulatory world continues to get more organized on combating global frauds. This week authorities in five countries arrested 565 people in fraud schemes that netted more than $1 billion.
The authorities stated that the scams were carried out in a variety of channels including telemarketing, mass mailings and the Internet and included bogus lottery, prize and sweepstakes offerings, invitations to pour money into nonexistent investments and supposedly legal enticements to avoid paying taxes.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 139 individuals in the United States; 426 arrests in Canada, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Spain. Authorities executed 447 search warrants in the five countries as part of the operation.
For years US and Canadian authorities have been involved with joint efforts. During this same time there has been sporadic cooperation involving countries from different continents regarding global fraud. Only time will tell if this is a change of things to come.
PartnerMarketers, advertisers, agencies and suppliers, among others, regularly seek Andy’s counsel regarding legal aspects of their advertising and promotional marketing businesses. He’s pragmatic and always looks for ...