[funsec] UK: Banks caught by 5m spy sting

[Fergie (Paul Ferguson)]

Thanks to Bruce Schneier for pointing out this story on
his blog.

Adam Sage writes in The Times Online UK:

[snip]

An ingenious fraudster is believed to be sunning himself on a beach after persuading leading banks to pay him more than €5 million (£3.5 million) in the belief that he was a secret service agent engaged in the fight against terrorist money-laundering.

The man, described by detectives as the greatest conman they had encountered, convinced one bank manager to leave him €358,000 in the lavatories of a Parisian bar. “This man is going to become a hero if he isn’t caught quickly,” an officer said. “The case is exceptional, perfectly unbelievable and surreal.”

The fraudster, named as Gilbert C, slipped through the net when his wife and mother-in-law were arrested. He promptly telephoned the Paris detective squad to say that he would halt his operations in France while he spent some of his illicit gains. The call was traced to an Israeli resort.

[snip]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1814531,00.html

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg at netzero.net or fergdawg at sbcglobal.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/