A renovated Crafers home is offering a luxe family lifestyle in the heart of the Hills.
It was a case of love at first sight for owners Karmin and Shawn Van Groesen when they bought their 16 The Crescent home in 2019, with Mrs Van Groesen saying they had no intention of buying at the time.
Renovated Crafers property with private lake an Adelaide Hills haven
Melbourne scientists have made a world-first discovery to tap into the body's fountain of youth and slow the effects of ageing.
Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) found that scar tissue is acting as a defect and compromising the function of the thymus organ, which fights disease.
"So not only is it shrinking, but the light is dimming as well," professor and division head Daniel Gray said.
Melbourne scientists make world-first discovery to slow the effects of ageing
Florida enacts new law against crooked movers; can’t use brokers; must give accurate estimates; half of all complaints about movers involve Florida companies; not clear if there is a private right of action
Meta takes down tens of thousands of Facebook and Instagram sites in Nigeria that were used in extortion scams filming and blackmailing young men
Illinois: Owner of Florida telemarketing fraud operation that sold fake health insurance gets 25 years prison
UK shuts down platform that let scammers call impersonating banks; three arrested; at least 170,000 victims; 1.3 million calls; millions lost
Fraud Trend to note: It is becoming clear that groups from China are handling the money collection for scammers from India. I’ve seen this in a number of recent cases, but it has not been commented or reported on so far. Sometimes it involves gift cards; at other times it does not. Let me know if you have seen or know more about this.
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
US Consumer Product Safety Administration holds Amazon liable for hazardous products sold by third party sellers
25% of kids will be ID theft victims by the time they turn 18
Senate finds Zelle only reimbursed 38% of victims for unauthorized charges; leaves losses of $100 million
Herb Weisbaum finds home title theft does occur, but is rare; alleges that ads for Home Title Lock claims FBI says this is a fast growing problem, but FBI claims it didn’t say that and doesn’t know; Texas AG investigating claims
California: Monterrey County Sheriff announces arrest of scammer who appeared in person to pick up funds; warns that in person collection is happening widely
Los Angeles: Six indicted, including several Canadians, for scheme that illegally took money from victim bank accounts; got millions
Singapore: Police investigating 323 people for acting as scammers or money mules; $10 million lost
Canada: Police arrest ten for SIM swap scam that took over phones; at least 1500 people affected
San Diego: Five Chinese indicted for laundering money for India-based tech support frauds; handled more than $27 million
Costly online chats with supposed porn stars at OnlyFans nets millions
Ireland: Nigerian man held for rape may be part of Black Axe crime organization
New Jersey: Police arrest man for grandparent fraud when he appears at home to collect victim money
Albany: Police arrest man from India who went to home to collect gold from scam victim after scam claiming paypal account had been charged; scam got $1 million from victim
Australia sets up public/private task force to deal with job scams
Member of Crips gang gets nearly five years prison for shooting and unemployment fraud
Miami: Fraudster arrested for grandparent fraud; hired Lyft driver to collect victim funds; scammer ID’ed by camera in Lyft vehicle
Sixth Nigerian man sentenced in inheritance fraud case; gets 85 months prison
Tampa: Nigerian man gets more than 12 years prison for buying log in credentials on the dark web and then stealing money from financial accounts; $2 million in losses
Japan: 90 arrested in raid on call center doing fraudulent binary investment scam
New Jersey: Two men from the Dominican Republic extradited to NJ; among 16 indicted for huge grandparent fraud
Illinois: Man gets probation for online pet fraud in state case
India busts call center; arrests seven, in tech support scam that was calling Australia
New York: Man from India gets seven years prison for tech support fraud from India that used pop-ups; headed gang; got $6 million
Humor
- Man on stolen Wal-Mart scooter leads police on low speed chase
- Police search of purse find bag of drugs labeled “Bag of Drugs”
- FTC settles case against major credit repair operation/pyramid scheme; company to turn over $12 million
- FTC and DOJ sue TikTok for violating children’s privacy act
- FTC is sending money back to victims of Zurixx house flipping scam
- FTC resolves case against online career-training company that made false claims about employment prospects; to cancel $43 million in debt and pay $15.7 million
- FTC settles with Carshield over deceptive claims about extended warranties; to pay $10 million
- FTC subpoenas eight companies for info about “surveillance pricing,” personalized prices charged based on info collected on people; not clear if it is used to offer discounts
- FTC shuts down operation that was based in Puerto Rico, and claimed for a fee that it could relieve their student loan debts; targeted Spanish speakers
- CFPB returns $8 million to victims of check cashing/loan company All Pay
- CFPB sues Rent-A-Center for deceptive finance claims
- CFPB returns $53 million to victims of BrightSpeed, which allowed payments for antivirus products sold deceptively
- Virginia: Man gets more than five years prison for PPP fraud; part of a group that did this
- Kansas City: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $900,000
- Spokane: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud
- Cleveland: Six plead guilty to PPP fraud; got $3 million
- Alabama: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $96,000
- St. Louis: Man arrested for PPP fraud; got $1.2 million
- West Virginia: Woman gets four months prison for PPP fraud; got $37,000
- New Jersey: Man gets three years prison for PPP fraud; got $2.4 million
- Mississippi: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $1.3 million
- Mississippi: Man gets 18 months prison for PPP fraud; got $800,000
- Boston: Woman indicted for PPP fraud
- Minnesota: Man convicted of PPP fraud by jury; got $2.1 million
- WSJ: Man kidnapped in Thailand and forced to do crypto romance scams for 18 months
- Wash Post: Actress kidnapped and forced to scam in Myanmar
- 14 from India rescued from Laos scam center
- Hydro Quebec loses $450,000 to BEC fraud
- Omaha: Nigerian man gets two years prison for BEC fraud; to be deported after sentence
- Georgia: Man from Zimbabwe found guilty of laundering money for BEC and romance fraud; got $1.2 million
- Interpol recovers $40 million from BEC fraud on Singapore company
- Attack shuts down systems of Columbus, Ohio
- Hits major US blood system; hospitals face shortages
- Attack on 40 French museums
- Hits tech company working for banks in India; 600 banks stop online bill pay
- US indicts North Korean for ransomware attacks on US hospitals
- FBI issues warning of scammers calling/texting claiming to be with a crypto exchange and claiming a problem
- SEC sues bitcoin founder; owner of Bitcloud social media site, with fraud that cost victims $257 million; parallel criminal case
- New York DA files charges against operation that claimed it could recover bitcoin stolen by scammers – for a fee
- Fresno: Romanian man gets 18 months prison for ATM skimming; got $150,000
- Syracuse: Man (Romanian?) arrested for ATM skimming
- Florida: Two Romanian men get 14 months prison for ATM skimming
- Michigan: Five indicted for laundering money for Nigerian online extortion scheme aimed at boys
- Boston: Nigerian man pleads guilty to laundering money from romance and PPP fraud; got more than $400,000
- Salt Lake City: Nigerian man gets 28 months prison for romance fraud; had laundered victim money
- Philadelphia: Two Nigerians extradited and charged with extortion fraud aimed at young men that caused suicide
- Boston: Another Nigerian man pleads guilty to laundering money from romance and PPP frauds
- Dutch police help take down crypto romance fraud that took in $162 million