- Scammers tricked a man from Des Moines, Iowa, into aiding their money-laundering scheme, police say.
- They claimed to be government officials investigating a cybercrime scheme.
A man from Des Moines, Iowa, is facing charges after local police say he unwittingly joined scammers' money-laundering scheme after first falling victim to the scam himself.
Police say scammers initially targeted Loren Esse, 71, by impersonating government officials investigating cybercrime and convincing him to help with their so-called investigation, local outlet KCCI reports.
Esse then began unknowingly participating in the scam by taking money from victims and moving it into bitcoin for the scammers, police told the outlet.
Des Moines police say investigators told Esse that he had been the victim of a scam before pressing charges.
"Investigators explained to him that what he was actually doing was helping facilitate a crime to happen and that there were people, similar to him, that were being victimized of tens of thousands of dollars," Sgt. Paul Parizek told local outlet WHO13.
Police say Esse did not stop after they spoke with him. As a result, Parizek said the department was forced to arrest him on charges related to money-laundering.
"There's no detectives high-fiving each other over this," Parizek told KCCI. "This is not something we are excited about. These scammers are very convincing."