Israeli said set to be extradited to US over massive online scam

An Israeli was reportedly set to be extradited to the United States over his alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar international fraud case.

The suspect set for extradition was identified as Harry Amar, a resident of the coastal city of Netanya and one of 20 Israelis arrested nine days ago, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday.

Amar and the others are suspected of operating a “social engineering” scam, which involves impersonating company employees online to get other workers in that company to wire them money, according to the Israel Police.

The targets were asked to wire cash to a bank account overseas, which was then forwarded to criminals in Israel. Those funds were laundered through various front companies and individuals, police said.

Among those detained along with Amar were Shimon Ben Shitrit of the coastal city of Ashdod, Tamzi Bebershvili of Netanya, Ori Saadon of Beit Shemesh, Stanislav Nazarov of Or Akiva, Timur Kardanov of Netanya, Rabia Abdel Hai of Tira, Ahmad Abu Naji of Nazareth, Husam Hariri of Umm el-Fahm and Moshe Hazan of Ramat Gan.

They are suspected, variously, of fraud, aggravated fraud, conspiring to commit crimes, threats, extortion, money laundering and running a criminal organization.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by police fraud officers, in conjunction with the FBI, that the Israel Police has dubbed “Case 278: Social Engineering.”