Sting: $4 million stolen from an orthodox businessman

A wealthy Orthodox businessman recently fell victim to a sophisticated bank fraud in Switzerland, when a group of Israeli criminals cleverly managed to steal four million dollars from his secret bank account in Switzerland. Swiss police opened an investigation, in cooperation with Interpol.

This is a known bank in Switzerland, which is held by orthodox millionaires from the U.S., Israel and more, secret accounts, which contain 'black' fortune which is not known to the tax authorities in their homeland.

This theft is considered among the largest committed in banks from the funds of the account holder, unlike thefts which were stolen from the Bank itself.

This is a well know Israeli-American businessman living in Israel and the U.S., and often contributes to charity. The man had a deposit of approximately $4 million in the account.

According to the complaint filed by the man, represented by the lawyer Mordechai Zivin, a group of Israeli criminals sent 15 faxes to the bank, including instructions to transfer the money to bank accounts in Athens, Las Vegas, England and Germany.

The real signature of the fraud victim was signed on the fax, but his signature was derived from checks issued for different beneficiaries, affixed to the paper which was filmed, so the fax that was sent looked like it was signed - by the account holder. Offenders have also used a fake letterhead of an attorney, a minority, while they present themselves as a diamond trader in need of money to finance the transactions. Funds were drawn from the accounts in cash.

In this way, all the money in the account was stolen, except for $8,000 which the gang had decided to leave in the account. Any transfer of a fax with instructions where to transfer funds, were accompanied by a phone call from the criminals who tried to speak in accordance with the tone and manner of speech of the account holder.

The bank clerk, had doubts about the originality of tone and manner of speech, but for some reason, chose to ignore them. After an internal investigation at the bank, the clerk who handled the account was fired - and a thorough investigation began.

Concern: more accounts at risk

The case was transferred to an investigating judge, who passed on the details to the police in Germany, Israel, Greece and the United States – who are researching the case. Germany also arrested a lawyer and businessman, a partner of fraud and money laundering. The German businessman is also a partner of the Israeli criminal who called the bank to verify the contents of the false faxes.

Mr. Zivin, which is known for his international connections, some of which are mysterious, is negotiating with the Swiss bank, to get the amount of the deposit plus expenses and compensation.

As far as it is known, offenders uncovered account information from an unofficial representative of the Bank of Israel (who was in financial distress and for the information received payment), whose role is to convince financiers to open a bank account. There is concern that the account numbers and other details of the accounts owned by Orthodox Jews are in the hands of the gang who are exposed to fraud or extortion.

Interpol considers this case a very serious event, as a gang of criminals are holding a list of other Bank account holders and the exact details. It is possible they have lists of other Jewish account.

Zivin says that criminals are taking advantage of the fact that many account owners, are black financers, which were stolen money from their accounts, who refrain from claiming the banks in public, since existence of the account may reveal their identity and get them in trouble with the tax authorities, and the factors responsible for the war of black fortune and laundering funds in Israel and other countries.

Those involved in fraud were revealed by the Ministry of Investigation, Focus Consulting and Investigations in Herzliya. The investigation was conducted over a few weeks, using the operation sources of criminal gangs that specialize in fraud. The firm collected forensic evidence led by Mr. Zivin, using its technological and secret tracking's.

Another fraud case recently took place at another bank in Switzerland. In this case a Trojan horse was planted in an Israeli's computer who has an account at the same bank and through him criminals cunningly succeeded in drawing nearly $100,000.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!