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Two alleged money mules in Zeus Trojan operation arrested

SearchFinancialSecurity.com Staff

Two men who allegedly acted as money mules in an international banking fraud scheme that used the Zeus Trojan were arrested in Wisconsin last week, the FBI announced Saturday.

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According to the FBI, Dorin Codreanu and Lilian Adam, both from Moldova, had been fugitives since Sept. 30, when federal authorities indicted dozens of people in connection with the fraud operation, which stole more than $3 million from U.S. bank accounts.

Codreanu allegedly operated as a money mule and also recruited and managed money mules, providing them with fake foreign passports. He also is suspected of opening at least two accounts as part of the mule organization.

Adam is suspected of working as a money mule while he spent the past summer in the U.S. He allegedly opened at least three accounts under his own name and under one alias, into which more than $14,000 was fraudulently wired from a victim's bank account and nearly $8,000 subsequently withdrawn.

Last month, the FBI said it tracked down two other suspected money mules connected to the massive fraud scheme and that two others surrendered. Authorities said they continue to search for 11 others.