San Diego, California - A man suspected of robbing several credit unions between December 2018 and March 2019 was arrested on March 5, 2019, announced Acting Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office and San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit.

San Francisco, California - The San Francisco Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking to warn potential victims of SIM swapping. Criminal actors engage in SIM swapping for the purpose of gaining access to the victim’s digital currency accounts. Most of the individuals targeted are heavy investors in or early adopters of cryptocurrency.

San Francisco, California - Prithviraj R. Bhikha, a former employee of Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco), was charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  The criminal complaint was unsealed last Monday following Bhikha’s arrest on Friday, March 1, 2019, at the San Francisco International Airport.

Houston, Texas - Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick for the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Perrye Turner of the FBI’s Houston Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Juan Benavides of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) made the announcement.

Miami, Florida - The FBI announces the creation of a dedicated international corruption squad based in its Miami Field Office. The FBI made the decision to expand the program to the Miami Field Office after the success of the FBI’s international corruption squads operating in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. The Miami International Corruption Squad will begin operating in March 2019.

Phoenix, Arizona - On Feb. 26, a federal grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona returned a 38-count indictment against U.S. and Philippines-based conspirators for operating a fraudulent scheme to import Native American-style jewelry and sell it to retail stores and individuals across the southwest United States as authentic jewelry made by Native Americans.  The conspirators allegedly perpetrated this international fraud and money laundering scheme for several years in violation of federal laws, including the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA).