Blocked transfers are no longer the end of the scam. Fraudsters are pushing victims into in-person cash pickups, so the money leaves the banking rail and moves through a courier handoff that standard transfer controls do not see. The FBI says the courier proves affiliation with an agreed password or a dollar-bill serial number, then collects cash at a home or public location. The same scam cycle can repeat after a fake wallet balance appears, with more cash demanded for bogus taxes and penalties. That shifts the control point from the bank to the handoff itself. Any fraud program that only watches for suspicious digital transfers will miss the step where the victim is persuaded to hand over cash offline.
Part of the PlainSec briefing for 2026-06-17