21 Shell Companies, 44 Bank Accounts, $7.4 Million: Five Charged in Seattle Tech Support Laundering Case

Someone gets a pop-up, or a call from "the bank." They're told they've been hacked, or their money's being stolen. So they mail a cashier's check to "protect" it, and the check lands in a rented mailbox in Washington State.

Five people are charged with moving it out of the country.

So what happened?

On August 28, 2026, the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced an indictment charging five men in a money laundering conspiracy involving tech support, government imposter and bank imposter scams.

According to the indictment, as described by the DOJ:

• Between October 2024 and March 2026, the men registered 21 shell companies in Washington State.
• They allegedly used fake identities to open about 44 bank accounts for the companies, and rented mailboxes linked to them.
• Scammers allegedly used tech support scams, or pretended to be government or bank officials, to get victims to send cashier's checks, money orders and other payments to the mailboxes.
• The defendants allegedly deposited the money and quickly wired it to accounts in the names of businesses in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China.
• They allegedly received and laundered more than $7.4 million from at least 77 victims.

They are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, ten counts of money laundering by concealment, and ten counts of money laundering by spending. Trial is set for November 9, 2026. One defendant was still sought by law enforcement at the time of the announcement. The case is United States v. Kuo et al., No. 2:26-cr-00123 (W.D. Wash.), and you can read the federal indictment in the Seattle tech support laundering case.

Now, these are charges. Not convictions. The DOJ itself says the charges are only allegations, and everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case and estimates seniors may have lost about $11 million in total.

Here's the thing ... these scams run like a business

The First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Neil Floyd, said it better than I could: "These scam groups operate like a business." Some people do the talking, others move the money.

Sound familiar? Lead gen, call center, payment processing. Same org chart. Just pointed at grandma.

Why should you care?

Because every one of these scams starts with a phone call or a pop-up with a phone number on it. And every time one works, consumers trust the phone a little less. That hurts every legit business that calls people for a living.

It's also a reminder that the government looks at the whole chain. Not just the guy on the phone. The guy with the bank accounts too.

What to do this week

• If you take inbound calls from pop-ups or ads, know the advertiser. Real tech support doesn't need a scary pop-up.
• Watch the payment method. Cashier's checks and money orders mailed to a random address? That's the red flag.
• Talk to the seniors in your life. No bank or government agency asks you to mail a check to "protect" your money.
• Report it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at IC3.gov.

Look, I get it. This isn't a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case. But it's the same phone. And we all share it.

Build it right, and you won't be the next headline. That's it.