U.S. to shut down mail-fraud schemes that stole hundreds of millions
WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and other agencies said on Thursday they have moved to shut down a series of mail-fraud schemes that have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from victims in the United States.
The Justice Department said it was seeking to close mailing firms that directly contacted victims, as well as a printer in India that produced solicitation letters, people who traded in lists of potential victims, and a Canadian company that processed the money.
"The activities we are talking about today have cheated Americans out of hundreds of millions of dollars," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference. "This fraud is massive in scale and global in scope and it can be devastating on an individual level."
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) both moved against PacNet Services, a Canadian payments processing company.
OFAC designated the company a significant transnational criminal organization, meaning its property has been frozen. OFAC also froze the U.S. assets of 12 people associated with PacNet.
The USPIS obtained a warrant to seize a PacNet bank account in the United States that was used to process payments.
"PacNet has a 20-year history of engaging in money laundering and mail fraud, by knowingly processing payments on behalf of a wide range of mail fraud schemes," the department said in a statement. "In 2016 alone, PacNet has processed payments for the perpetrators of more than 100 different mail fraud campaigns, collectively involving tens of millions of dollars."
PacNet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department also filed a criminal complaint against Ercan Barka, who operated True Vision LLC, and accused him of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He was placed under arrest on Sept. 3 as he attempted to fly to Turkey, the department said.
Barka defrauded victims of more than $29 million, the department said.
The government has also sought to shut down other direct mail schemes based in New York, Nevada and Europe.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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