Important case about older scam victim. I’ve reported before about William Brock, an 81 year old Ohio man who shot and killed an Uber driver who came to his house to pick up $12,000 for a grandparent scam. Apparently he had been told that his nephew was in a car crash in Charleston and had been arrested. Brock tried to get the phone from the Uber driver, she refused, and he shot her when she tried to leave. Brock called 911, the police came, and the police answered two subsequent calls from the scammer, who said he was with the police himself. Brock is charged with felony murder.
The news articles give a few interesting facts. Apparently Uber assisted. The phone call to the Uber driver was from Canada, and was from a burner phone. And there are some questions the articles don’t answer:- Was this the first time Brock had provided money in this scam?
- Was the Uber driver aware that this was a scam? Or was she simply being paid to pick up a package?
- Why did the scammer want to know what hospital the driver had been taken to?
- Was there any other useful information on her phone?
- Were they able to track the credit card number used by Uber?
- Complaints up 18.5%
- Reported losses down a bit from $3.1 billion to $2.74 billion
- Top frauds reported were investments (likely crypto romance fraud); tech support fraud, and romance fraud
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center releases 2023 report on fraud against victim over 60
- Complaints up 14% over 2022
- Losses reported of $3.4 billion
- Tech support by far the most common fraud; double that of next most common
- Biggest losses were in crypto investment frauds
- 15% paid by crypto
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 fraud and crypto scams
Fraud News Around the world
- Buffalo: Canadian man who was courier picking up victim funds pleads guilty to grandparent fraud; handled at least $250,000
- Michigan: Woman gets 6.5 years prison for laundering money from tech support fraud victims; handled $1.5 million; sent money on to victims; group also did government impersonation fraud
- Canada: in Saskatoon Quebec man pleads guilty to grandparent fraud
- Singapore: two week effort results in 309 being investigated for online frauds and acting as money mules
- UK announces new £150 million fraud reporting center and website
- Nigeria: EFCC arrests 9 for internet fraud
- FinCEN finds US seniors lose $27 billion every year to fraud and scams as reported by banks
- Toronto Police arrest man from investment fraud that placed bogus internet ads and pretended to be global asset manager
- Singapore: Police arrest four Chinese men for selling counterfeit Apple phones
- California: Man pleads guilty to selling $3.5 million in counterfeit electronic goods to the US military
- Job scams on the rise; often with fake checks; may impersonate real businesses
- Japanese police create fake tech support payment cards and distribute them at convenience stores; those who try to buy them are warned about the scam
- Long Island: Police arrest man (from India?) for tech support fraud
- Viet Nam: Police arrest Nigerian man, his Vietnamese wife, and eleven others for laundering money for international frauds
- FCC fines major cell carriers $200 million for sharing location information without permission
- Canada: Toronto police arrest 12 in project against synthetic identity theft used to open bank accounts; at least $4 million in losses
- Canada: Ontario police arrest Quebec man for grandparent scam; went victim home to pick up money
- Spain arrests over 100 for “son in need” scam
- Newark: 16 in the Dominican Republic charged with grandparent fraud; had couriers that went to victim homes to pick up money
Humor
- Florida: Man arrested for driving with license that was revoked in 1999
- Police ask drunk driver how much he had to drink; says “not enough”
- FTC sues online bill payment company Doxo; says it charged junk fees and engaged in deception
- FTC gets $3.17 million fine against Williams-Sonoma for violating previous order about Made in the USA claims
- FTC settles with N95 mask company over deceptive claims; to pay $1.1 million
- FTC resolves case against credit card processor for debt collection scam; to pay $10 million
- FTC resolves case against home water treatment financial servicing company; to pay $20 million and forgive $23 million
- Maryland: Two plead guilty to PPP fraud; got $95,000
- Fresno: Man gets a year prison for PPP fraud; got $1.4 million
- Pittsburgh: Man gets 54 months prison for id theft to get unemployment benefits
- Texas: Jury convicts woman of PPP fraud; got $1.4 million; three others in the enterprise plead guilty
- Florida: Man gets a year in prison for PPP fraud; got $440,000
- Rhode Island: Four convicted of ID theft to get unemployment benefits; got $4.8 million
Business Email compromise fraud
- Wisconsin: Man convicted of laundering money from BEC fraud
- Anti Trump Lincoln Project loses $35,000 to BEC fraud
- Connecticut: US seizes $2.2 million stolen in BEC fraud from two victims
- Binance founder Zhao gets four months prison
- Identity Theft Resource Center finds that data breaches were up 90% in the first quarter of 2024
- Georgia: Hits local government for Coffee County
- Ransomware payments exceeded $1 billion last year
- Attack on Swedish logistics company results in empty shelves at liquor stores
- Brooklyn: Social media influencer gets 84 months prison for crypto investment scam aimed at Muslims; got $8 million
- New York: Founder of crypto mixing company Samurai Wallet charged with money laundering; at least $100 million in criminal proceeds
- FBI warns that crypto money transfer companies must be registered with the federal government
- Australia arrests four for telemarketing of crypto investment fraud; got $1.5 million
- Early investor in bitcoin charged with failure to pay taxes; arrested in Spain and to be extradited to the US
- Japan arrests Nigerian man who used romance scam victim to carry drugs from the UK to Japan
- CBS: Why law enforcement struggles to address romance fraud
- CBS: Dating apps make it easier to scam victims (4:35)
- After romance fraud victim commits suicide Match CEO says: “Things happen in life. That’s really difficult.”
- Photos of Austrian weatherman being used by Nigerian man for romance fraud
- Explanation of how Nigerian romance fraudsters are using deepfake videos
- Tennessee: Nigerian man gets 5 years prison for romance fraud and laundering victim funds