Only 7pc of scam victims are getting their money back from Australia's banks
FASTER, PLEASE: Cleaning up the aging brain: Scientists restore brain’s waste removal system.
Australia’s ACCC alleges that over half of the crypto ads on Facebook are scams or violate Meta policies
Gold – A new Trend. I am seeing more and more scammers who are asking victims to pay with gold. And it appears that this tactic is being headed by scammers from India. This is a huge red flag of fraud (no legitimate operation will ask for funds this way) and of course this makes it harder to follow the money.
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
Philadelphia: Four charged with stealing checks from mail, altering, and cashing them
Baltimore: Man gets four years prison for bank fraud; opened phony accounts used to launder money from fake check scams that got $1.8 million
Taiwan: Police arrest 14 from gang that was recruiting money mules
Tennessee: Man arrested for helping North Koreans get remote jobs at US tech companies
Minnesota: Chinese man from California pleads guilty to tech support fraud where he appeared at home claiming to be a “special agent” collecting funds
Australia: UK man pleads guilty to scam where he called impersonating police officer
North Carolina: Ukrainian man extradited from Germany and charged with scheme that stole personal information and charged small sums, $7 to $10, on credit card bills of victims around the world; used network of money mules, and got at least $1.8 million
India busts call center offering bogus loans to US victims; arrest 18
Houston: Man pleads guilty to impersonating US military, telling victims they were due back pay; had to send him money Cash App
Chicago: Two men (Indians?) arrested for fraud where they claimed to be with the FTC, and got $60,000 from elderly couple; not clear if they appeared at home in person
Texas: Three men plead guilty to selling millions worth of counterfeit Cisco computer networking system parts
SEC sues and shuts down Ponzi scheme that took in $300 million
India’s Telecom regulator tells phone companies to block all calls from unregistered telemarketers for two years
Michigan: Female money mule pleads guilty to impersonating an FBI agent; had fake badge and uniform; went to victim home to pick up money from scam claiming the IRS was owed money; but law enforcement had victim number changed to theirs, and she was arrested; had been promised $2500
Humor
- Chicago man carjacks two cars in 90 minutes, but leaves his phone in one of them
- NYC man tries to rob bank from back of a cab by going to drive through; cops quickly appear
- CFPB settles case with credit repair scam; to pay $3 million in civil penalties
- FTC settles case against sweepstakes operation that sent letter telling people they had won and needed to send in $20 to claim winnings
- FTC settles with business opportunity/work from home scam that took in millions
- West Virginia: Man pleads guilty to PPP and unemployment benefit fraud
- Houston: Man gets four years prison for PPP fraud
- St. Louis: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $41,000
- Memphis: Man gets 21 months prison for PPP fraud; got $2 million
- Brooklyn: Two NYPD detectives and two others charged with PPP fraud
- West Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $21,000
- Massive data breach at company that does criminal background checks loses info on 2.9 billion people, and includes SSN’s
- Ransomware attack on Carnival Cruise Lines; loses data on both employees and customers