Australia: Man charged with BEC fraud; got $709,000

 Watch out! Scammers are already taking advantage of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to register deceptive domain names and to send texts and phishing emails

 

FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center 2022 fraud report

• Losses reported more than doubled since 2020; $4.2 billion in 2020, $10.3 billion in 2022
• BEC scams increasingly asking for crypto as payment
• Investment frauds were top source of complaints; losses to that more than doubled from $1.4 billion in 2021 to $3.31 billion
• Tech support and government impersonation both up sharply
• Largest number of complaints from victims 30-39, though 60+ lost more money
• ID theft, lottery fraud, counterfeit goods down somewhat
• Phishing complaints were number 1 complaint topic
• State by state breakdowns here

US and German authorities take down infrastructure of darkweb crypto money laundering mixer ChipMixer; had laundered €2.73 billion
 
France 24 TV:  Mafia Africa:  A dive into organized crime in France
 
Review and recommendation:  Triumph Regained: The Viet Nam war 1965-1968, by Mark Moyar.  This is the second volume of a planned trilogy on the history of the war.  The author had access to many documents from North Korea, and challenges many common assertions about the war, such as that the risk of China getting directly involved and that the Viet Cong were a separate group than the North Vietnamese.  And the Tet Offensive was a disastrous military defeat for the North Vietnamese. Well worth a read

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

• New York: Man engaged in moving fraud sentenced to 18 months prison
• Cayman Islands: Woman arrested for rental fraud; got tens of thousands in deposits for rental property
• Newfoundland, Canada: Man arrested for grandparent fraud faces additional criminal charges
• Buckinghamshire, UK: Seven arrested for acting as money mules
• Court in Australia fines Booktopia $6 million for deceptive practices on its refund policy
• Boston: Ringleader of gang that used stolen identities to “buy” used cars pleads guilty
• Payment methods scammers prefer, and what to do if you lose money to them
• National Telecommunications Commission in the Philippines sees sharp drop in text message scams from 1500 per day to 100 per day following SIM registration Act
• Singapore: 13 arrested for rental scams

Humor                                                                              

• Arson suspect sends police a new photo because he didn’t like the one on the warrant they had issued

FTC and CFPB  

• CFPB announces broad investigation into credit reporting agencies and data brokers

Virus Benefit Theft 

• Los Angeles: Woman serving life sentence for murder pleads guilty; was part of gang that used stolen identities to get unemployment benefits; gang got $2 million
• Denver: Social Security employee pleads guilty to fraud; invented children profiles to obtain benefits
• Rhode Island: Man gets two years prison for ID theft to steal unemployment benefits; got $30.000
• DOJ settles civil case against two Michigan not for profits that improperly got PPP loans
• Vermont: Man gets a year in prison for PPP fraud
• Iowa: Chiropractor indicted for PPP fraud
• Miami: Former bank manager gets ten years prison for PPP/EIDL loan fraud; got $15 million

Social media

• Facebook allowed hundreds of ads to run that are sexually suggestive and use the faces of Emma Watson and Scarlet Johansson

Business Email compromise fraud 

• Scammers are now using comments in Google workspace to lead people to malicious links at crypto sites and asking people to pay
• Boston: Man gets 27 months prison for BEC scam
• Australia: Man charged with BEC fraud; got $709,000

IRS and tax fraud

• Austin: Seven indicted for stolen identity refund fraud; got $111million

Ransomware

• Hits Canadian engineering company that does projects for military, transportation, and power infrastructure

Data Breaches 

• US medical device maker says it lost personal information on 1 million people

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency

• Hong Kong residents lost $212 million in crypto to scams last year; double the year before
• Canadian Competition Bureau issues warning about crypto scams; says victims lost $308 million last year, nearly double 2021 losses of $164 million
• FBI warns that scammers now robbing those playing video games; claim awards but must open a crypto wallet, which crooks then drain
• AI now being used to imitate voices on phone calls in BEC, grandparent scams
• Student in India commits suicide after losing money to bitcoin investment scam

Romance Fraud and Sextortion

• Romance scammers expand from crypto to bogus investments in gold
• Nigeria: Man who impersonated US soldier in romance scams gets two years prison
• Ontario Provincial Police arrest man for romance fraud
• Crypto romance scam losses totaled $3 billion last year: Wired
• India arrests two Nigerian men for romance fraud
• FBI warns of spike in crypto romance frauds