Europol releases report on online fraud trends (does not contain any data on scope of fraud there)
Cyber Attack in Iran hit gas supply; shuts down 70% of the countries gas stations
Canada: British Columbia forfeits $10 million from PacNet, which processed payments for sweepstakes fraud claiming victims had won money and had to return small sums to claim
Canada: York Regional police arrest six (Chinese?) for handling gift card payments after tech support frauds; all Home Depot cards; had $3 million
New Jersey: Man gets five years prison for laundering fraud money for Black Axe gang in South Africa; handled $525,000
Two men from Toronto arrested for altering gift cards in stores
Los Angeles: Four men indicted for crypto romance frauds; got $80 million
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, fake check fraudand crypto scams
Fraud News Around the world
- Woman defrauded by tech support fraud has to pay taxes on the money she lost; Congress deleted this protection for scam victims in 2018 changes to the tax code
- New York: Eight, including at least two Nigerians, indicted for scheme that used ID theft to get funds from credit union accounts of others
- Massachusetts: Two women (Chinese?) arrested for stealing gift cards; found 4600 cards in their car
- Missouri: Woman pleads guilty to selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton products online she got from China; made $70,000
- New Jersey: Montreal woman arrested for grandparent fraud
- Michigan: Two businessmen indicted for using ID theft to get loans; got $2.5 million
- New York: UK man extradited from Morocco and charged with investment fraud in wine
- Cincinnati: Prison for three that stole keys to postal storage boxes and took mail
- Montana: Man gets 31 months prison for handling victim money from India-based scam that told people they needed to move their money to a “safe account;” must pay $1.2 million
- San Francisco sues InComm, maker of Vanilla gift cards, for not preventing cards being drained
- UK: Prison for two men who ran telemarketing scam that called older victims and pretended to be police
- Australia fines telco $100,000 for providing spoofed Caller ID numbers in spam text messages
- New Zealand to establish a national scam center
- Nike sues sneaker reseller, who mainly used social media to market, with large scale sales of counterfeit shoes
- Ontario man arrested for grandparent fraud bailed out by his real grandparents
- Louisiana police follow trail of car wreck debris to bar and find the owner drinking inside
- Bank robber was high, and his demand note forget to ask for money
- Colorado robbers get caught when someone stole their get away car while they were inside
- CFPB shuts down company that collected medical debt; it was unverified
- CFPB makes US Bank pay $21 million for not allowing customers to access unemployment benefits, frozen for fraud concerns, victims not allowed access accounts during the pandemic
- FTC sues to shut down online business opportunity fraud; used robocalls to sell; made over $1 million
- CFPB sues home builder/developer for predatory lending practices to hispanics
- FTC bans Rite-Aid from using facial recognition to detect shoplifters; alleges false positivs in system
- UK: Prison for three men who defrauded the Covid Bounce Back program of £110,000
- Florida: Woman gets two years prison for PPP fraud
- Denver: Man gets 37 months prison for PPP fraud; got $151,000
- Seattle: Nigerian man caught traveling from Nigeria to Canada, nabbed in Germany, pleads guilty to using ID theft to get unemployment benefits in the US; got over $1 million
- Texas: Woman gets 30 months prison for PPP fraud
- New Jersey: Man charged with PPP fraud; got $2 million
- Police in Paris arrest man with ties to Russia; seize crypto, say was banker for Hive ransomware affiliates
- Ontario Provincial police arrest man for ransomware
- Attack on Kraft/Heinz
- Hits Kentucky school district
- Attack on cancer center in South Africa
- International enforcement effort shuts down extortion web site used for ransomware; Police release decryption tool
- Scammers are now doing “approval phishing;” send notices that looks routine to those who have crypto wallets, but contains code that allows scammers to drain the wallet; likely $1 billion lost to this type of fraud
- Canada: Ontario judge issues arrest warrant for man who aided crypto Ponzi scheme that took investors of $40-100 million
- California: Butte County jury convicts Romanian man of ATM skimming
- Alabama: Six (Romanians?) plead guilty to ATM skimming at credit unions
- Houston: Police raid lab making skimming devices; charge four from Romania
- Ontario: Three men from Romania get prison for skimming
- Jamaica: Two men arrested by police; they are wanted for extradition to the US for lottery scams
- Jamaica: Third man arrested for lottery fraud; wanted for extradition to the US
- Pittsburgh: Seven, including several Jamaicans, charged with lottery fraud; got $2.8 million
- Texas: Woman (Nigerian?) convicted of romance scam by jury; one of 11 defendants in this scheme
- New York: Bronx woman (Nigerian?) convicted of romance fraud; worked with others in Nigeria and South Africa; laundered over $2 million
- New study by Social Catfish on romance scams says 81% of victims never report the scam, estimate that $200 billion/year is lost; huge growth in fraud against those younger than 20
- South African police arrest two for romance fraud
- St. Louis: Nigerian man gets three years prison for romance fraud; helped launder $1.2 million