Musk On MSM’s Identity Politics Fixation: The Woke Mind Virus Spreads ‘Just Like a Physical Virus’.
The Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP
Over
500,000 fraud attempts blocked by Credential Protection Register
There are no “safe” accounts. No one is asking for your money to protect it. Over the last several years more and more consumers have been told that their accounts are at risk. This seems to have begun with scammers calling and claiming to be with Social Security, and then transferring them to a supposed federal agent who told them that they were going to be arrested and their accounts would be frozen unless they transferred their money to the government to “protect it” temporarily before it was returned. This is described in some detail in my study of government imposter frauds. There are, now, many variations of this scam. Sometimes they claim to be with a bank and say there is ID theft. But the common thread is that you need to give your money to someone trustworthy to protect it. No one legitimate will ever do this. I believe that this scam stems from India.
Digital arrest scams sweep India
India arrests 8 for “digital arrest” scams
New study shows Chat GPT can be used to do voice-based frauds; And Anthony Pratkanis says: The ChatGPT article is by computer scientists testing if the latest edition can be used to execute fraud; it is supposed to have safeguards to prevent its use in crime. The researchers simulated being a victim while the LLM did the fraud -- mostly on the back end of moving money around. The key finding is that ChatGPT wasn't useful for bank transfers and impersonating IRS agents. However, credential theft from Gmail succeeded) 60% of the time, while crypto transfers and credential theft from Instagram only worked 40% of the time. This sort of test is important to see if OpenAI and their products are living up to the hype.
Win money for consumer education! NACHA, the association that governs the electronic payment processing industry, announces a contest for short consumer education videos with theme of “Stand Against Scams”
- Does not focus on any particular type of scam or fraud
- Videos must be 60 seconds long
- Entries are due November 12
- One Grand Prize Winner: $5,000; Second Place Winner: $2,500; Third Place Winner: $1,000
- Entry rules here
Need an expert witness for consumer protection or fraud issues? Let me know.
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
Washington: Police at Dulles airport arrest man from Indonesia who was operating a black money fraud; flew in from Togo
Nigeria arrests 55 for internet fraud
Ohio: Woman from India arrested for laundering money from victims who had been called, supposedly by police or banks, and told their money was at risk and had to be moved to “safe” location; went to victim’s home to pick up money
New malware app takes over calls to banks on Android systems
Justice department releases annual report on enforcement actions in cases affecting older consumers
Nigeria: Man gets 14 years prison for internet fraud involving business opportunities
Michigan: Sixth man (Indian?) sentenced to 15 years prison for tech support scam that got $11 million
Canada: Prince Edward’s Island woman, from Chile, gets 4 months prison for grandparent fraud; went to victim’s home to pick up money
Boston: Woman who owned spa indicted for importing counterfeit Botox and other drugs and then injecting them in clients over three years
Canada: Ontario police arrest man from the US for rental scam on Facebook
Ireland identifies 1000 people tied to Black Axe gang; responsible for losses of €84 million
Robocalls down in the US, but phone carriers have not all implemented required controls to battle them
Stranger saves older couple $9000, were about to send money at bitcoin ATM in jury duty scam
Singapore: Six charged in scam that used malware to take unauthorized funds from victim bank accounts; $8 million lost
UK shuts down over 200 shops selling counterfeit goods; many arrests reported
South Carolina: Two brothers plead guilty to sales of counterfeit Viagra worth $35 million
California: Napa police arrest man (Chinese?) who went to home of victim to collect money from fake PayPal email scam
Nigeria arrests 130, mostly Chinese, for internet fraud
National Consumers League warns fake reviews are associated with billions of online sales
Rhode Island: Two arrested for grandparent fraud; nabbed when they went to victim’s home to pick up money
India: Police bust major money laundering network using mules
Ireland: Nigerian Black Axe member gets four years prison; acted as a “herder”; recruited 12 money mules that collected €331,000
Canada: Windsor man arrested for grandparent fraud
Vermont: Man (Indian?) convicted of tech support fraud
Humor
- UK cheesemakers lose $400,00 to heist; 50,000 pounds stolen in online fraud
- Thieves steal the UK’s largest inflatable planetarium
- FTC sends $2.5 million in refunds to victims of Credit Karma pre-approved credit offers
- CFPB fines credit union $1.5 million over botched roll out of online banking system
- CFPB settles case against Townstone Financial for redlining in Chicago
- House oversight committee releases report criticizing FTC as overtly partisan; suggests replacing Chair Lina Khan; Report itself here
- FTC sends $17 million in refund checks to victims of online cash advance company Brigit
- FTC sues Georgia debt collection operation that collected debts that were not owed; threatened arrest; took in $7.6 million
- FTC settles case against AI review generation company Sitejabber
- FTC resolves case against online cash advance firm
- US House releases report on PPP and other COVID fraud; cost $136 billion and was 30% of all loans
- Kansas City: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $1.4 million
- Maryland: Man indicted for PPP fraud; got $387,000
- Orlando: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $57,000
- San Diego: Jury convicts man of investment and PPP fraud; got $4.4 million from PPP
- Pittsburgh: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud
- Florida: Man indicted for ID theft to do PPP fraud
- California: Two indicted for ID theft to get unemployment benefits; got $2.1 million
- UK: 12 arrested from Birmingham gang that stole £2 million in Covid business loans
- Over 800 Indians have been rescued from scam compounds in Cambodia
- Philippines busts fraud call center on Bataan where workers were being held against their will
- Malaysia frees 11 workers from fraud call center in Cambodia
- India arrests eight involved in “digital arrest” scams; calls came from fraud center in Cambodia
- Omaha: Nigerian man gets 45 months prison, subject to deportation after, over BEC fraud; had been extradited from Nigeria
- Texas: Nigerian man gets 26 years prison for BEC scam; got access to email systems at real estate agencies; tried to get $100 million; actually got $12 million
- Ventura, California: Woman who acted as money mule for handling funds from real estate scam gets probation; other defendant got 1 year jail
- FBI has done disruption operations on 30 ransomware gangs this year
- North Korean government tied to ransomware group
- Hits Los Angeles Public Housing Authority
- Major data breach at Free, the biggest ISP in France
- Ransomware attack takes down Washington State court system
- Hits Houston public housing authority
- Attack on French energy firm Schneider Electric
- California: Anaheim police arrest two (Romanians?) for ATM skimming to get EBT benefit card money
- Syracuse: Two from Romania indicted for ATM skimming and ID theft
- Three men (Romanians?) arrested in Bakersfield, California for ATM skimming