"We can't let that stop us from continuing to move forward," said Pablo Martinez, who heads the cybercrime unit at the Secret Service. "You have to go after every target."
Mules, used by hackers as cutouts, are an obvious target, even the unwitting ones. When thieves stole the money from Duckwall's dealership, some of the money first went to Shawn Young's account in upstate New York. Young thought it was a legitimate transaction -- at first.
Assistant Manager
Young, 35, was officially an assistant manager for R.E. Company Back Office. He got his job in October through a Careerbuilder website ad that said an Australian office services company was looking to expand into New York state. He was selected to scout locations in the Binghamton area. It did seem odd his new employer never asked for his Social Security number, he said in an interview.
Part of his job was to transfer payments made by some of the company's U.S.-based clients to various programmers. He corresponded with his boss, Samantha Simons, exclusively through the company's intranet site.
At 8:45 a.m. on Nov. 3, Young got his first payment-related assignment. He logged into the R.E. Company Back Office intranet site and learned from his supervisors that $4,975 had been deposited into his account at M&T Bank in Endicott, New York. The sender was Green Ford Sales.
Act Quickly
His boss said he could keep $145 of the money if he acted quickly. Within 10 minutes, he withdrew the funds and drove to the closest Western Union Co. office, a few miles away. Young pulled into the Western Union parking lot and his cell phone rang. It was a manager from the M&T Bank branch where he'd made the withdrawal. She said the bank had discovered the wire transfer wasn't authorized. It was only then that Young realized something might be wrong, he said.
On his way back the bank, his phone rang again. It was Simons, calling from a Syracuse telephone area code to see if there was a problem with the transfer. Young, who had never spoken with his boss, told her he'd been asked to return the funds. In a matter-of-fact manner, Simons said OK and hung up, he said.
After learning from his bank that the wire transfer from Green Ford had been unauthorized, Young tried to log into the R.E. Company Bank Office website, but his access had been terminated.