Stories
FTC reviews data on ages of scam victims- Older people not more likely to be victims overall
- Younger people more likely victims of online shopping, crypto investments; romance scams; fake checks, job scams
- Older more likely victims of sweepstakes/lotteries, grandparent scams; tech support
- Also ordered to forfeit $10.6 million
- Mainly was involved in romance frauds
- Recruited at least ten money mules to send victim funds on to Hong Kong, China, Canada and Nigeria
- Thanks given to Toronto Police Service and Toronto Strategic Partnership
Ransomware payments went down sharply in 2022, from $756.6 million in 2021 to $456.8 million in 2022; more just refusing to pay?
Consumer issue of the week: Robocalls. Great news on this front! I decided to keep track of robocalls since the first of the year. So far I have not received any prerecorded calls on either my land line or my cell phone. I did get one live caller trying to sell investments in gold, but none about extended warranties, tech support, or anything else. So someone has been doing good work. I also recently saw this, which you might find useful. Is that robocall a scam? Searchable database allows you to see if a number calling you has been the subject of a complaint to the FCC
.
New links!
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, free trial offer frauds, job scams, online shopping fraud, and crypto scams
Fraud News Around the world
- Cleveland: Nigerian man gets 37 months prison (over three years) for fraud; had darkweb market that traded in credit card information; used stolen cards to buy goods and gift cards at retailers; returned many of those for cash refunds
- Nigeria: Woman gets four months jail for employment scam where victims had to send money for supposedly needed tools to work; just kept money
- UK Which? discusses scams that rely heavily on Whats App, including fake job offers and crypto investments
- Filipino Senator warns that “Chinese mafia” is still using kidnapped Filipinos in Cambodia to force them into scamming westerners
- Boston: Man pleads guilty to engaging in identity theft to buy late model cars and fully finance them; got $90,000
- EFCC in Nigeria arrests 12 for internet fraud
- Paypal says accounts of 35,000 Americans hacked; used “credential stuffing” that automatically tried log in information stolen from other sites
- Maryland: Man gets nine years prison for grandparent scam; also used identity theft to get unemployment benefits; got $1.8 million grandparent fraud, $618,000 in benefits
- Dubai arrests 447 people for counterfeit goods worth billions
- Scammers now have fake customer support call centers
- India: Nigerian man and two accomplices arrested over scam selling nonexistent iPads online
- Saskatoon, Canada: Three from Quebec previously charged over grandparent fraud now faced added organized crime charges
- State of Maine settles with moving company over threats to customers who left bad reviews
- Van somehow ends up on top of two cars in Texas parking lot
- NYPD officers found having sex in back of car after hearing loud screams
- FTC resolves case with LasikPlus for bait and switch ads claiming consumers could get eye surgery for $300 when over 90% could not; to pay fine of $1.25 million
- FTC accepting claims for those who bought AT&T unlimited data plans that were instead throttled
- Chamber of Commerce vows to fight FTC competition rule on noncompete contracts
- FTC sending $973.000 in refund checks to victims of free trial offer/subscription trap NutraClick
- Georgia: Eleven men get prison for PPP fraud; got $3 million
- North Carolina:Couple from Texas plead guilty to PPP fraud
- Washington State AG recover $9.3 million in stolen Covid unemployment benefits
- Atlanta: Man indicted for PPP fraud; got nearly $1 million
- Florida: Man gets 27 months prison for PPP fraud; got $1.2 million
- Large law firm in South Africa has to pay victim of BEC fraud R5.5 million over fake email from firm for sale of house proceeds
- Pakistan-based International Cricket Council loses $2.5 million in BEC scam
- SEC fines crypto lender Nexo $45 million for failing to register
- SEC sues man who had scheme to steal $116 million from crypto asset trading platform Mango Markets; to be extradited from Puerto Rico to New York; also parallel criminal charges
- UK: Prison for four who robbed Australian crypto exchange Blackpool of £21 million
- FBI confirms North Korea was behind $100 million theft from blockchain bridge Horizon
- Nigerian man living in Malta gets two year suspended sentence for romance fraud
- California assistant DA has great success getting money back for victims of crypto romance scams
- Australian grandmother arrested in Japan for transporting drugs; she says was carrying goods for romantic interest in Nigeria
- New York: Florida woman arrested for defrauding holocaust victim of $2.8 million in romance scam