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One third of money for North Korea missile program comes from cyber attacksReview and Recommendation: David McCullough died last week, who wrote many excellent books on US history. I recommend all of them, but my own favorites are The Great Bridge, on building the Brooklyn Bridge, and The Path Between the Seas, on building the Panama Canal.
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
- State of New Jersey gets $1.9 million from firm that claimed it could adjust mortgages, shuts it down
- Los Angeles: Man arrested for Ponzi scheme involving investments in Air Jordan sneakers
- UK leads Europe as home to credit card fraud
- India arrests 17 from call center that called Indians and pretended to be law enforcement
- Texas: Man gets 51 months prison for impersonating social security to defraud older people; worked with call centers in India
- EFCC in Nigerian arrests Yahoo Corp. member, two others, for internet fraud
- Boston: Michigan man arrested for tech support scam working those in India; also sold illegal opioids
- Scammers are now posting fake one star reviews about restaurants; want ransom to remove them
- Los Angeles: Man (Indian?) found guilty of fraud in business of unlocking cell phones; used phishing to get into accounts of 50 T-Mobile employees; made $25 million
- Hacker provides video of scammer at work in India; police called (1:52)
- Scammers are calling celebrities claiming that their children have been kidnapped (falsely) and then demanding ransom
- Scammers sent Uber to take elderly woman to the bank
- Australia arrests man for developing spyware used by thousands
- Police in Waterloo, Ontario arrest two for grandparent fraud
- EFCC in Nigeria busts hideout; arrests 18 Yahoo boys for internet fraud
- Boston: Nigerian man gets six months home confinement; laundered fraud money and used car dealership he owned to send cars to Nigeria for resale
- Scammers using names of Global Scam Alliance to claim they can get money back for victims of previous scams
- Man busted for drugs tries to tell cops that “Meth is legal now”
- Florida woman with open bottle of Jack Daniels arrested in golf cart on busy highway
- Courthouse police arrest man with dagger in his shoe; claims they weren’t his and didn’t know it was there
- FTC Inspector General criticizes FTC for “hiring” unpaid experts; some with conflicts of interest
- FTC refunding over $1 million to victims of phantom debt collection operation
- Republican FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips to resign in the fall
- WSJ OpEd: FTC headed for legal trouble trying to do antitrust rulemakings
- DOJ files two cases referred by the FTC over claims that PPE was Made in the USA and government certified
- CFPB takes action against savings algorithm for deceptive claims; to pay restitution and $2.7 million fine
- FTC settles action with sham health insurance company; to refund $100 million
- West Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $42,000
- Massachusetts: Illegal alien from Venezuela charged with ID theft to get Covid unemployment benefits and food stamps
- FBI seizes goods from DC pastor; got $3 million in PPP money, bought a Tesla
- Idaho: Three indictments for PPP fraud; got $2.4 million
- Las Vegas: Letter carrier pleads guilty to fraud; helped get unemployment benefit cards
- Minnesota: Indiana woman arrested for BEC and romance fraud; others as well
- Three Nigerian men extradited from the UK to face charges in Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; got more than $5 million
- Hacks at crypto exchanges Solana and Nomad cost victims $200 million
- FDIC tells Voyager, a crypto bank, to stop claiming it is FDIC insured when it is not
- SEC is reportedly investigating all crypto exchanges
- California: Russian owner of crypto exchange BTC-E extradited from Greece; laundered over $4 billion for ransomware and other fraud
- New York: Australian man pleads guilty to bank secrecy act violations at BitMEX crypto exchange
- Jamaica arrests man wanted for murder after two years; also had lottery paraphernalia when caught
- Toronto: RCMP arrests woman for lottery fraud pretending to be Publisher’s Clearinghouse and Readers digest
- Maryland: State sentences romance scammer to 38 years on prison; involved bogus investments
- Romance scams now using QR codes
- Georgia: Man gets 15 years in state prison for romance fraud; got $230,000
- Connecticut: Man gets 30 years prison for romance and lottery fraud
- South Africa: New group formed to fight romance fraud by Black Axe
- Thailand: Woman arrested for romance fraud
- FTC veteran Lem Dowdy has died. He spent many years doing great work at the FTC’s Atlanta