OVER €84m has been laundered through Irish banks as part of a multi-million global fraud scam.
Latest stats obtained by The Irish Sun show investigators from Garda National Economic Crime Bureau under Operation Skein also identified 1,100 people connected to the Black Axe crime gang.
Detectives — who are working closely with Interpol — have also made 565 arrests, prosecuted 300 people and cautioned 39 juveniles as part of the huge Irish probe.
Over 50 senior members of the gang have also been arrested here.
Among those who opened bank accounts in Ireland, to be used by the gang, were 12 Italians and over 30 Portuguese nationals.
At present, the Black Axe crime gang is classified by Interpol as an “ultra violent cyber gang” with more than 30,000 members.
They have also been classified as engaging in “murder, human trafficking” and being “one of the world’s main cyber gangs”.
Although originating in Nigeria, it has now spread its tentacles around the world and has also been identified as a “global mafia”.
It’s understood they have been operating in Ireland for 10 years but have been left reeling due to the ongoing Garda investigations.
Det Supt Michael Cryan, whose teams of investigators at the GNECB continue to target the gang’s operations in Ireland, said Gardai had caused “significant disruption” to their activities.
The senior officer said: “We have caused significant disruption to this criminal organisation and we continue to investigate their activities. We are working closely with our international partners around the world in a number of ongoing investigations.
“A lot of people have been connected to the gang in Ireland and many of them include money mules, who allow their bank accounts to be used by the criminal organisation.
“The people we have identified have all committed various offences but they now know we have serious sentences for money laundering here so they will look elsewhere.”
They operated by cloning the emails of legitimate companies and convincing them to change their suppliers’ details.
They then asked the clients to send their payment to the different account in Ireland they had control of.
Once the cash landed, it was sent to the UK and other places.
GANG MEMBER LIVED HIGH LIFE
The latest member of the gang to be caged here was Funmi Abimbola, 25, who pleaded guilty to facilitating the activities of an organised crime gang and money laundering.
He pleaded guilty to possessing the proceeds of crime worth €7,100 in 2022 and providing 38 bank accounts for money laundering between August 2018 and February 2021.
Abimbola — who used his position as a bank worker to facilitate the crimes — received a three-year sentence last week for his role in the mob.
When he was arrested, he fled Ireland but was later extradited to stand trial.
During his time with the gang, he lived the high life and drove a Mercedes.
He was identified by the Gardai when they were investigating the theft of over €1m from a solicitor’s office in November 2020.
The conman was caught by officers when he paid for an iPhone from an account which had received €121,000 from a business fraud.
MONEY MULES
The Irish Sun can reveal the former bank worker’s role was to “harvest” and share accounts opened by money mules.
The schemer also provided accounts to senior members of the gang when they needed to launder cash.
Our CCTV footage also shows him withdrawing cash from accounts he had under his control.
One source said: “He was a very important member of the Black Axe gang. He would always be on hand to provide an account when it was needed and was managing accounts set up by money mules.”
Also caged was Italian conman Giuseppe Diviccaro, 48, who was locked up after he posed as a photographer in Ireland to launder €200,000 through Irish accounts between 2019 and 2020.
At present, around 50 per cent of all international requests sent to the Gardai are linked to the area of fraud.
