Mar. 16—A Smyrna man was one of eight alleged cyber criminals nabbed by Georgia’s Cyber Fraud Task Force during its first year in operation, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Alexis Garcia, 24, was charged last year with wire fraud and money laundering for charged related to a “government impostor scam,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Garcia called someone in April 2021 posing as an IRS employee, and told the victim their money was “dirty/dark and it needed to be cleaned,” according to a warrant for his arrest. After the phone call, the victim sent a wire transfer of $35,110 from her bank account to Garcia’s JP Morgan Chase account, according to the warrant.
Earlier that month, police say, Garcia posed as an Amazon employee and emailed another victim, instructing her to wire $39,500 from her bank account to Garcia’s JP Morgan Chase account, which she did.
The Georgia Cyber Fraud Task Force, formed to combat cyber-enabled money laundering through Atlanta-area banks, nabbed Garcia and seven other “money mules” over the last year, according to the release. The seven other “money mules” are:
—Bernard Kaba, 61, of Morrow, who was charged with three counts of theft by taking in connection with his receipt of “business email compromise” (BEC) fraud proceeds;
—Borin Khoun, 44, of Lawrenceville, who was charged with four counts of theft by taking in connection with his receipt of fraud proceeds from a…
