Baker Report: Nigeria arrests and charges man who fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits in Virginia

 

Baker Fraud Report – News you can use Top Stories FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issues 2020 fraud report Record number of complaints, up 70% from 2019; losses $4.1 billion BEC frauds largest loss; cost $1.8 billion Romance scams second in losses; over $600 million Tech support fraud keeps growing; up 171% in losses from 2019 State by state breakdown (Click on state names at the top) New scam advertises car rentals on web sites; must prepay with a gift card; victim arrives at rental company but has no reservation and lose their money; sites registered in Ukraine and India   San Diego: Two Canadians indicted for role in Sky Global, which operated encrypted phones used by criminals worldwide; system closed down Virus Benefit Theft Massachusetts has lost $219 million to fraud in unemployment; may have lost $468 million more Los Angeles: Two post office clerks arrested for fraud; got money obtained by fraud for unemployment benefits, then bought and cashed money orders Arkansas: Woman gets 41 months prison for PPP fraud; took in $2 million Los Angeles: Four more indicted in virus relief fraud ring that sought $22 million Virginia: Previously convicted felon gets 51 months prison for PPP and EIDL fraud Nigeria arrests and charges man who fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits in Virginia Study by Government Accountability Office issues report finding small business virus loan programs at high risk of fraud; issue duplicate loans to same people of $692 million Washington State: Tech executive pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $5.5 million Miami: Tax preparer faces charge over 118 PPP applications seeking $2.3 million Ohio: Woman who ran private investigation business gets two years prison for PPP and EIDL fraud; took in$2.5 million Former Georgia mayoral candidate charged with PPP fraud New York: Man charged with fraud in seeking unemployment benefits; submitted 250 applications; took in $1.4 million Question of the Week.  Nigeria does prosecute romance scammers, though it is not clear how the cases come to their attention.  Do the major fraud complaint centers share information with Nigeria? Thus if they find one victim for a scammer in Nigeria, can we locate other victims that dealt with the same scammer using the same name to enhance charges and sentence in Nigeria? Studies I’ve done for BBB can all be found here. Here are links to some of the study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards. Fraud News From Around the world Nigeria arrests 57 internet fraudsters at their hotel Young people in the UK are being “hired” online for jobs acting as money mules Scammer calls woman days after husband’s death, claims to be former employer who has an insurance policy; needs money from her for unpaid premiums; probably found her with an online obituary Police in Ireland say online shopping fraud doubled last year; losses reported are €22 million California settles with Classmates.com over its auto-renewal policies; violates state law; to pay as much as $550,000 Group says Mary Kay cosmetics makes deceptive earnings claims ID theft up 384% in the last month in Australia Apple removed 1 million sites selling counterfeit goods last year Humor How employees get back at rude customers Toronto man calls 911 after his Mom changed his Xbox password Dumb Florida thieves leave wallet with ID in it after robbing convenience store FTC and CFPB   CFPB rescinds policy statement that gave limits to “abusive” acts or practices authority FTC issues report on its international efforts to coordinate on consumer protection and competition issues FTC settles with New York company that sold in house TV antennas with deceptive testimonials and claims about how many stations could be picked up FTC settles with on line work at home scam that pretended to be affiliated with Amazon and which used robocalls CFPB sues California student debt relief company over illegal upfront fees Business Email compromise fraud (read BBB study) Scammers get $22 million from South African grocery chain Ireland arrests Nigerian man in continuing efforts to combat gang that launders money for BEC scams Social Media Ohio: Man indicted for creating a fake BLM site on Facebook for people to donate Ransomware FBI releases details on PYSA ransomware that targets education systems in 12 US state and the UK; actors also steal data Fake adblocker software downloads ransomware Paralyzes Spanish Employment agency Hits school system in Buffalo, New York Attack on beer maker Molson/Coors Cost of ransomware attacks on healthcare last year totals $21 billion Ransomware attacks are exploiting flaws in Microsoft Exchange servers Shuts down colleges in Birmingham, England Bitcoin and cryptocurrency FBI warns of growing trend of stealing cryptotcurrency ATM skimming Oregon: Romanian ATM skimmer gets four years prison New York: Miami man pleads guilty to gas station skimming Boston: Bulgarian man pleads guilty to ATM skimming Jamaica and Lottery Fraud (read BBB lottery fraud study) Dallas: Customs seizes packages of mailing from Nigeria at airport; documents telling people they had won large sums in Facebook lottery Romance Fraud and Sextortion (read BBB romance fraud study) Dating industry begins using facial recognition to screen out scammers Los Angeles: Eight years prison for romance scammer that got money from victims for bogus investments Nigeria: College lecturer gets six months jail for romance fraud Maryland: Nigerian gets nine years prison for laundering money from victims of romance and other frauds; used proceeds to buy cars and shipped those to Nigeria Nigeria arrests romance scammer that pretended to be in US military New Jersey: Romance scammer arrested after he escapes prison while being moved to a halfway house BBC: Inside the world of Ghana’s romance scammers People: FBI’s Frank Gasper in North Dakota, who has been instrumental in fighting Jamaican lottery frauds, is retiring