The Matriarch Of Lesbian Hollywood, Who Was Once The Best-Paid Actress In The World
Alla Nazimova, a Jewish-born native of Crimea, was raised in Switzerland, studied at the Moscow Art Theater, became a renowned stage actress in New York, made enormous sums in silent movies, and had numerous affairs with men — until she met Mercedes "I can get any woman from a...
Nevada: Four years prison for man who helped operate “In Fraud We Trust” gang that stole credit cards and laundered money internationally; previously sentenced defendants from Russia, Mexico, Venezuela
US Secret Service continues to probe Nigerian Black Axe gang activities from South Africa; romance and other fraud
How YouTube sleuths pranked fraudulent call centers in India; located them and got glitter and stink bombs into their offices
US and ten other countries take down Android-based bot network that infects phones and then steals online banking log- in information or crypto account data
Fraud Studies. Here are links to the studies I’ve written for the Better Business Bureau: puppy fraud, romance fraud; BEC fraud, sweepstakes/lottery fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud, gift cards, job scams, online shopping fraud, and crypto scams
Fraud News Around the world
- San Diego: Florida man is fourth to plead guilty to RICO charges over grandparent scam
- Toronto: Montreal man arrested for grandparent fraud when he appeared at victim home to collect money
- Singapore: Three arrested for selling counterfeit goods online
- Microsoft study finds 70% of those in India had tech support scams contact them; 31% lost money
- EFCC in Nigeria arrests nine for internet fraud
- Nigeria convicts couple that defrauded US company out of $120 million
- State of New Jersey resolves case against timeshare resale fraud; to pay $10 million
- Florida AG gets $20 million judgment against eight related crooked moving companies
- Five arrested in Budapest, Romania, for laundering money for BEC and crypto scams; handled €44 million
- Ottawa: Police in Ottawa arrest two from Quebec for grandparent fraud
Humor
FTC and CFPB
- Tim Muris/Howard Beales Op Ed in the WSJ about the FTC’s new rulemaking efforts
- FTC proposes updates to Endorsement Guides; more focus on fake reviews
- FTC gets Michigan court to shut down credit repair operation that acted as a pyramid scheme; operation got $213 million
- FTC sends refund checks to 5000 victims totaling $255,000 for bogus debt collection scam
- FTC is sending $542,000 in refunds to victims of bogus digital income operation
Virus Benefit Theft
- New Hampshire: Man pleads guilty to unemployment fraud as well as PPP fraud
- California claims it prevented hundreds of millions in unemployment fraud
- Hawaii: California couple charged with PPP fraud
- Arkansas: Man gets 27 months prison for PPP fraud; got $469,000
- Los Angeles: Letter carrier arrested for stealing unemployment benefit cards from the mail; got $800,000; cards applied for with stolen identities
- Virginia: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $1 million
- Virginia: Sixth man in $3 million PPP fraud group pleads guilty
- Virginia: Man gets 57 months prison for theft of unemployment benefits; got $499,000
Social media
Business Email compromise fraud
- Ireland: Man and woman arrested for laundering money from BEC fraud
- EFCC in Nigeria arrests three men with help from Interpol; part of Operation Killer Bee, involving remote access Trojans to do BEC fraud
- Portland, Oregon ripped off by BEC scam; lose $1.4 million
Ransomware
- Hits Somerset county in New Jersey
- Delays flights at Spicejet airlines in India
- Hits Austrian state; demands $5 million ransom
- Attack on school system in Regina, Saskatchewan
- Hits Hanes brands, maker of underwear
Data Breaches
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency
- Police in Peterborough, Canada, recover $100,000 from crypto exchange for fraud victim
- New York: Former employee of NFT marketplace charged with insider trading
IRS and tax frauds
Jamaica and Lottery Fraud
- When does a sweepstakes become an illegal lottery?
- Jamaica: Jury finds man guilty of lottery fraud; money laundering
Romance Fraud and Sextortion