Digital Forensics Dispatch

Two U.S. Men Plead Guilty After Stealing Millions

September 27, 2022

Phil Muncaster, of InfoSecurity Magazine, recently published an article about two men pleading guilty after defrauding online investors.

Patrick Gallagher, 44, of Massachusetts and Michael Dion, 49, of Florida have been defrauding online investors in their own foreign exchange scheme over the last 10 years.

The fake company that they created was called Global Forex Management and their successful strategy was luring investors with very promising returns of huge quantities of money. They based those big returns on previous trading results that they made up out of thin air.

The duo would then tell the investors that their funds would be traded to a partner company named IB Capital, which was run by another conspirator.

The Department of Justice stated, “In May 2012, Gallagher and Dion executed their scheme by intentionally creating losing trades for the investors and effectively stole $30m from their victims. After fabricating the massive trading loss, Gallagher and Dion routed the stolen money through shell companies they had set up all over the world.”

Michael Dion and Patrick Gallagher pled guilty and face up to a maximum jail term of five years.

The FBI reported that investment fraud is one of the higher earners for cybercriminals and in just last year, they made about $1.5 billion.

Since the foreign exchange market is very volatile, users need to be more cautious and not use any money that they can’t afford to lose and use only trusted companies.

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