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From phishing to romance fraud to extortion and even becoming a 鈥渕oney mule,鈥� financial crimes continue to impact residents across King County 鈥� and it鈥檚 expected to rise once again with the coming holiday season.

According to a 2023 study from AARP, 80% of surveyed U.S. adults reported being targeted with holiday-related fraud, which includes fake charities and fraudulent online marketplaces.

In a concerted push to inoculate the public from these scams, King County prosecutors laid out a wide variety of them at a lunchtime press conference inside the King County Courthouse on Tuesday. They took a special focus on imposters 鈥� who鈥檝e recently been impersonating law enforcement officials around Western Washington 鈥� and online scams.

鈥淥ne of the emerging trends in financial crimes over the last few years is what鈥檚 called 鈥榩ig butchering,鈥欌�� Senior Deputy Prosecutor Hugo Torres with the Economic Crimes & Wage Theft Division said.

He described it as criminals 鈥渇attening up a pig before you kill it and eat it.鈥�

It鈥檚 a tactic, he said, where criminals repeatedly convince their victims to send them money.

鈥淲hereas a romance scam maybe 10 years ago would have been a request for money and then the suspect disappears, now they鈥檒l engage in an ongoing relationship with their victims and keep asking for money 鈥� until our victim is just completely drained,鈥� he said.

King County prosecutors warn of ‘money mule’ scams

Prosecutors are also warning the public about a trend where the victim becomes an unwitting so-called 鈥渕oney mule.鈥� The group of lawyers cited a case of a man, Harold Murphy, who convinced women to deposit fraudulent checks into their BECU accounts, asking them to then withdraw the money for him before the checks ultimately bounced.

He “met and befriended young women,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Danika Adams said.

“The three women he ran this scam on initially found themselves left holding the bag,” she added. “Their checks would bounce because they were all fake, and then BECU would come after them for the money.”

He was ultimately caught, convicted and sentenced to 170 months in prison 鈥� the severity of the penalty motivated by his criminal record, prosecutors said.

BECU found itself in the middle of another scam 鈥� this time, on the receiving end of an imposter pretending to be the credit union in attempts to siphon funds away from customers.

鈥淲hen it comes to phones, criminals have gotten pretty sophisticated,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e able to alter called ID and spoof a legitimate entity. This is something they鈥檙e doing more and more.鈥�

One of the same scammers even called a prosecuting attorney working on the same BECU case.

鈥淲hile he was working on that case on his computer, he got a call on his personal phone and it said it鈥檚 from BECU,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e answered it, and it wasn鈥檛 from BECU 鈥� he鈥檚 seen these types of scams before.鈥�

Torres took the example as a time to remind citizens 鈥淲henever you are called by any entity, don鈥檛 give our personally identifying information if you did not initiate the call.鈥�

Prosecutors offered more advice that consumers have likely heard before: don鈥檛 click suspicious links in emails, don鈥檛 readily trust someone calling pretending to be a family member in dire need and be aware that government officials and law enforcement will never request payment be in gift cards or cryptocurrencies.

But among the advice was a stark reality 鈥� victims鈥� money is often spent before the criminals are caught. And that鈥檚 even if they are caught.

Most victims feel too ashamed to report the crimes quickly to police, prosecutors said. Of the ones who do, substantial evidence on the suspects鈥� identities is often not there and hampers any investigation or prosecution of the case. It leads prosecutors to an unfortunate message of prevention.

鈥淭hey are very good at spending the money they steal, and so a lot of it is gone by the time it gets to us,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淭he best way to keep from losing out is to not be scammed in the first place.鈥�

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at 成人X站 Newsradio. You can read more of Sam鈥檚 stories聽here. Follow Sam on聽, or聽email him here.