Second Trump Shooter Wrote a Chilling Letter Before Assassination Attempt.
FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center issues new report on crypto fraud
- Victims reported losses of $5.6 billion in crypto in 2023
- That’s a 45% increase over the 2022
- Investments, almost surely meaning crypto romance fraud, accounted for 71% of those losses
- But also large sums lost to tech support and romance scams
- Most of those complaints were from people over 60
- These complaints account for half of all reported money losses
- Studied February through August 2023
- Most common stolen checks are altered and deposited
- Second most common is checks used as templates for a counterfeit check
- Third was just signing and depositing checks
- Most fake checks deposited through ATM’s
- Here’s the study I did on fake check fraud
DOJ begins second phase of returning money to fraud victims who sent money through Western Union; $18.5 million is going to 3000 people
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
Canada: Court in Saskatoon sentences Quebec man to one year prison for grandparent fraud; had appeared in person to pick up cash
Ghana: Police arrest 487 over claims that multi-level marketing company QNET is a Ponzi scheme; company denies
Buffalo: Ontario man pleads guilty to importing $4.2 million worth of counterfeit goods
BBB issues new study on investment fraud (mainly crypto romance fraud); average reported losses went up from $1000 in 2001 to $6000 this year
Nigeria: EFCC returns proceeds of internet fraud on Canadians to the RCMP; 53 stolen vehicles, $180,000
UK: Man arrested over phone call impersonating police
Singapore: Two to be charged with acting as money mules
New UK legislation likely that will allow courts to prevent transfers from bank accounts when fraud is suspected
Chicago: Commodities Futures Trading Commission gets court to order defendant in binary option investment fraud to disgorge $7 million
Canada: Toronto: Five years prison for leader of gang of eight charged with selling counterfeit art; biggest art fraud in history
Las Vegas: Man pleads guilty to operating telemarketing call center that claims it was seeking donors for charities but really sent money to PACs
Class action claims JC Penney deceived consumers by claiming fake discounts off original prices
Des Moines: 18 indicted in scheme that stole business checks and deposited them in Iowa banks
Humor
- Florida man parks car in turn lane and passes out after 25 beers
- Hand gun forgotten in stove fires off rounds after stove was turned on
- Woman who claims she was drunk steals $2600 casket from funeral home – which had a body in it
- FTC sends refunds to victims of genetic testing company that didn’t protect data adequately
- CFPB orders TD bank to pay $28 million over mistakes in data it reported to credit reporting agencies
- CFPB settles with student loan servicing company Navient over problems, company to leave the business, refund $120 million
- New report from Congress finds that hundreds of billions were lost to fraud in Covid relief programs
- Boston: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; one of gang of 40
- Spokane: Man gets 18 months prison for PPP fraud; got $155,000
- Las Vegas: Jury finds man guilty of PPP fraud; got $11.2 million
- Florida: Woman pleads guilty to ID theft to commit PPP fraud
- Oregon: Four indicted for PPP fraud that sought $178 million
- Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud
- Maryland: Man gets a year prison for PPP fraud; got $250,000
- Florida: Man gets more than three years prison for PPP fraud
- Inside the Thailand scam industry targeting the US and making $2 billion a year
- Cambodia: Five online scammers deported to China
- Kansas Attorney General files suit and recovers funds lost from crypto romance fraud; money back from Nigeria
- More than 600 bitcoin ATM’s closed down globally in the last three months because of use by fraudsters
- Connecticut: Man gets three years prison for scheme that got into victim bank accounts and converted that money into crypto
- Washington, DC: Two Nigerians and man from Ghana indicted for laundering money from romance and BEC scams; handled over $1 million
- Michigan: Two Nigerian brothers get 210 months prison each over online scam that extorted young men with sex recordings; led to teen suicide
- Nigeria: Two men get one year prison for romance fraud
- Pennsylvania: Man accused of laundering money for romance, BEC and gold scams; handled $700,000
- Delaware: Four men from the Ivory Coast indicted for extortion scheme where they pretended to be women and caught boys on line in compromising situations, taped them, and then extorted money