Monday, September 23, 2024

Australia: Two get prison for ATM skimming

 Tacoma: Second Nigerian man, who had been living in Canada, pleads guilty to ID theft to steal unemployment benefits; had also used stolen IDs to get tax refunds

 
Europol takes down encrypted messaging system Ghost, used by international criminals; 51 arrested worldwide; had servers in Iceland and France; owners lived in Australia



San Diego: Six arrested, including owner of car rental company; provided cars for criminals from South America who visited the US to do burglaries, shoplifting, and steal credit and debit cards; group got at least $5 million
 
Countries sharing data to fight online fraud.  That’s good thing. It would be great to share consumer complaints between countries to target fraudsters, and much data/evidence is held in the US and other countries. A new UN Convention seems aimed at such problem, but commentators warn about some serious risks for free expression and other rights.
 
Here are links to the studies I’ve written for the Better Business Bureau: puppy fraudromance fraud; BEC fraudsweepstakes/lottery fraud,  tech support fraudromance fraud money mulescrooked movers, government impostersonline vehicle sale scamsrental fraud, gift cards,  free trial offer frauds,  job scams,  online shopping fraud,  fake check fraud and crypto scams
 
Fraud News Around the world
US seizes 350 web sites used by Chinese to sell silencers and counterfeit gun parts into the US
New York: Man charged with tech support scam; apparently went to victim home to get money
Spain arrests 33 for internet crime, including romance scams that involved losses of at least €440,000
Italy: Police arrest nine in bust of ring that sold counterfeit retro video equipment worth € 50 million  
Rhode Island: Two men (Romanians?) arrested for running huge shoplifting ring that took in $12.3 million
India: Assistant bank manager arrested for opening accounts for online frauds
New York: Woman from Peru gets two years prison for ring that snatched purses and wallets and then used the credit cards to buy electronics
Canada Border Protection seizes $2 million in meth that was in bottles labeled apple and grape juice
Canada: Toronto police arrest 12 for fraud using synthetic identities to get credit cards
Time Magazine on The Golden Age of Scams
Ireland: Police say teens being recruited on social media to become money mules

Humor FTC and CFPBVirus Benefit Theft Kidnapping and forced to scamBusiness Email compromise fraud Ransomware and data breachesBitcoin and cryptocurrency  ATM SkimmingJamaica and Lottery FraudRomance Fraud and Sextortion People: