The FBI has charged Tushal Rathod from Baldwinsville, NY, with wire fraud and money laundering related to an alleged $1.7 million scheme involving counterfeit checks and business email compromise scams. The fraudulent operation reportedly involved tracing laundered funds through a network of bank accounts and resulted in $1.2 million worth of Bitcoin being sent to external addresses. Rathod allegedly falsified invoices to create a facade of legitimate income and was warned by at least three banks about the fraudulent nature of the funds being deposited into his accounts. The FBI claims he even recruited his girlfriend and family members to assist in his scheme, and although Citibank recovered $800,000 of the stolen funds, the investigation highlights the widespread issue of financial scams, particularly in relation to cryptocurrency, which accounted for a record $4.57 billion in losses in 2023.

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