Please Let me be very very clear … Nearly half of all Covid unemployment benefits may have been stolen by scammers; $400 billion lost?; at least 70% overseas

Bravo to Niki Savva for walking away from The Australian after it calls it a day on journalism and lurches much further into irreversible Soviet-style government protection and fanaticism by bringing Peta Credlin on board. RIP The Australian. The political economy of taxation A new paper from the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute makes the case for a more deliberate and expansive consideration of political economy issues in the context of Australian tax policy. The paper proposes a number of areas of analysis to further develop an understanding of Australia’s tax policy landscape.   TODAY ONLY! Economics Committee to scrutinise insurance sector following year of COVID-19 and natural disasters The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will hear from the Insurance Council of Australia, as well as from a range of insurers at a public hearing via videoconference today, as part of its ongoing Review of the Four Major Banks and other Financial Institutions. The hearings was live webcast, from 9:15am to 5:15pm and transcript will be available next week       Know a romance fraud victim who is still troubled after the scam? Not for profit Cybercrime support network offering free online support group for romance fraud victims Ten week moderated program US victims only at this point Also has a closed Facebook page for victims   FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center releases report on fraud against older victims in 2020 28% of complaints by those over 60 Losses of $1 billion; $300 million more than 2019 Most losses by romance fraud victims Extensive article on how Mexico fought a Romanian ATM skimming gang in Cancun; gang owned its own corporation and ATM machines   Worldwide online free trial offer/subscription trap scam traced to Montreal; hundreds of millions lost   Theft of log in information of 26 million for Amazon, Facebook, Apple   Joint effort by the US, Romania, Germany, the Netherlands takes down online fraud marketplace Slilpp; over a dozen arrested; over $200 million lost due to stolen credentials sold on the site  Why Buffalo, New York, is the hub of crooked debt collectors; ties to the mafia    Operator of business directory operation in Canada indicted in Canada; started ripping off Canadians after FTC case and then criminal charges/prison in the US   BBB Studies. 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. Coronavirus Scammers impersonating vaccine lotteries to rip off victims India warns that it its army is being contacted by scammers asking them to click a link in vaccine scam Fraud News From Around the world EFCC in Nigeria arrest father and son for internet fraud   FTC warns of surge in rental car fraud with bogus websites; NEVER pay with a gift card UK court shuts down two tech support operations in Kent that were fronts for India-based scammers Texas: Florida man pleads guilty to laundering money obtained from victims of IRS impersonation; loan scams, and other frauds UK: Woman gets three years prison; was a money mule for frauds impersonating police Humor Burglar stops to take a shower in home he was robbing; arrested in only a towel New Hampshire man crashes car while giving Windsor police chief the finger; arrested for DUI People want the NASA Mars rover to fight the Chinese Mars rover FTC and CFPB   Senate approves Lina Khan as FTC Commissioner; President also makes her Chair of the agency FTC settles with Amazon Flex over unpaid tips to drivers; company to pay $61.7 million Medical director of California supplement company settles with the FTC over deceptive claims about a $23,000 COVID treatment FTC and Arkansas jointly sue Blessing Loom, alleging it is a pyramid operation Virus Benefit Theft Nearly half of all Covid unemployment benefits may have been stolen by scammers; $400 billion lost?; at least 70% overseas Virginia: Woman gets 108 months prison over unemployment fraud; got $500,000 Brooklyn: Five, including Jet Blue employees, indicted for EIDL fraud New York: Man from NY, woman from Oklahoma, charged with PPP fraud Ohio points at Nigerian crime ring Scattered Canary over theft of unemployment benefits Philadelphia: Man charged with stealing $1 million in PPP funds New York: Chinese man pleads guilty to fraud; got $20 million in PPP and EIDL loans California: Three women plead guilty to using ID’s of prisoners to get unemployment benefits; took in $477,000 Business Email compromise fraud (read BBB study) North Carolina: Jury finds man guilty of acting as a mule in BEC scams; took in $2 million; Nigerian? New York: Texas man arrested for laundering $2 million for BEC scams Texas: Five arrested for laundering BEC money Microsoft disrupts BEC operation by dealing with its operations in the cloud Ransomware Ukraine arrests six from major ransomware gang responsible for attack on Stanford University, many others Closes two schools in Kent in the UK Meat company JBS paid $11 million ransom Hits police department in Presque Isle, Maine Insurance companies keep paying out over ransomware: Wired Hits community college in Des Moines, Iowa Avaddon ransomware group says it is going out of business; releases decryption keys Connecticut: Russian pleads guilty; operated encryption program to help ransomware evade antivirus CBS: 80% of victims attacked a second time ATM skimming India arrests tenth man in effort against Romanian fraud gang Jamaica and Lottery Fraud (read BBB lottery fraud study) Jamaica: Woman fined J$250,000 for involvement in lottery fraud Florida: Jamaican extradited to the US pleads guilty to lottery fraud Romance Fraud and Sextortion (read BBB romance fraud study) UK group says romance fraud was up at least 40% during the pandemic Nigerian man arrested in Malaysia for romance fraud