McDavid Mutuc spent nine years at Bank of America gaining a wide knowledge of banking operations including financial crimes.
Now, he’s a detective investigating fraud for the Irvine Police Department.
“It’s a big commitment to step out of the comfort of your office and go to the Police Academy,” Mutuc said.
Irvine is justifiably called one of the safest cities in America, but that statistic often refers to violent crimes involving murders or robberies.
Far less publicized are financial crimes where businesses lose money. Irvine PD received reports of 1,125 fraud cases last year while the city experienced 52 robberies and 619 burglaries.
Mutuc’s unit investigating identity theft, embezzlement and other financial shenanigans has seven people, including three sworn detectives; each work cases, though, only detectives can actually serve warrants and arrest suspects. A unit battling physical crimes has six members.
“We have more financial crimes hitting our regular retail establishments than robberies,” Mutuc said.
Financial Pinkerton
University of California-Irvine graduate Mutuc—his degree’s in Spanish—worked in audits, cash controls and risk management at Bank of America, running projects that trained as many as 14,000 workers.
Mutuc changed career paths because he wanted to become more involved with the community. He completed a six-month training course at Golden West College. He joined the Irvine Police Department in 2006 and made detective in 2010.
His time in banking taught the importance of customer relations and law enforcement leans heavily on it.
“It’s not just investigations,” he said. “Corporate sector [skills] have been very valuable.”
He’s an active member in the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators and has authored a 40-hour Financial Crimes Investigator’s Course.
He also works undercover helping other units with investigations, appearing for an interview in casual duds right from a stakeout—on a case he couldn’t discuss. During the conversation, he explained how Irvine businesses are being targeted today, difficulties tracking such crimes and what executives can do about them.
Phish Food
Irvine businesses face a deluge of fake emails, he said, and far more sophisticated ones than the “African prince is needing of your happily assistance with his millions” scams of decades past; if criminals weren’t ahead of the law and the way it’s written, they’d be in jail already.
Emails are “one of the bigger ones we’re seeing right now,” he said, adding that it can cost businesses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Scams often appear to be a legitimate bill from a legitimate source—even the city of Irvine itself. The bill seems routine, but there are clues such as an altered email address.
“It could be something as simple as ‘cityIrvine.org’ instead of ‘cityofirvine.org,’” he said.
Mutuc’s team investigates any amount: taking reports, trying to determine where the email originated, and pursuing prosecution. The process often runs into privacy issues and internet anonymity.
Once the sender is found, “we have the challenge of having to prove the person sitting in that chair or working on that computer was the one who actually received the payment.”
Kenya Calling
Perpetrators also often aren’t local. The department sends reports to other jurisdictions—departments nationwide are being inundated with them. If an email came from abroad—more likely Russia these days than Nigeria—reports go to the FBI.
“It’s virtually impossible to track outside of the country,” Mutuc said.
A second technique is a phone call ostensibly from a large and menacing opponent—a public utility, big corporation or the IRS.
Callers will claim an ability to shut off power, for instance, if the company doesn’t pony up.
“Electrical [utility] scams are happening with businesses,” which feel pressured to comply to keep their doors open.
A third attack: mail theft, where identities are assumed and new credit cards are maxed out.
“They intercept the mail before people know,” he said.
Criminals also use websites like Craigslist. Irvine PD encourages people to exchange goods somewhere other than home or business—even at the police station itself. It’s particularly beneficial for elderly targets, Mutuc said.
People in Irvine, he said, “feel a false sense of security.”
