Trump meets with 'cancelled' Aussie chef
Former celebrity chef Pete Evans has taken to social media to share his meeting with Donald Trump on Sunday.
Evans wrote on X that he met the US president for dinner at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, along with billionaire Elon Musk and media mogul James O’Keefe.
The meeting came after it was announced earlier in the week that the former My Kitchen Rules star would work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Make America Healthy Again program.
- Losses reported by victims UP 25% last year; though total complaints flat
- Biggest losses to crypto romance investment frauds -- $5.7 billion
- Government imposter frauds second – losses went from $171 million in 2023 to $789 million in 2024
- Losses to frauds offering jobs tripled last year from $250 million in 2023 to $750.6 million last year
- Full data book with state and city breakdowns here
Australia releases 2024 fraud data
- Complaints DOWN 17.3%
- Losses DOWN 33.1%
- Full report here
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 indicts 8 Chinese, including PRC official, for hacking group hitting the US; disrupt websites
- Tampa: 18 illegal aliens indicted for ID theft to get social security numbers to obtain jobs
- Albany: Nigerian man pleads guilty to using identity theft to get credit cards, checks, and loans; got $1.7 million
- Singapore: 303 under investigation for being either scammers or money mules
- Colorado: Man from India gets six years prison over tech support scam; went to victim’s home to pick up gold bars
- New US elder fraud coordination center begins; tries to find patterns in complaints to help law enforcement; funding by Amazon, Google, Walmart
- California: Postal supervisor pleads guilty to stealing $300,000 in checks and gold from the US mail
- UK: Six in Lancashire get prison time for scam that called and impersonated police and banks
- FCC: How scammers can take over your phone number; intercept alerts and two factor authentication of accounts
- Spain: Three who developed spyware used against Catalan group are indicted
- Maryland: Man from Colombia indicted for ID theft to get social security retirement; previously deported three times
- Mississippi: Man here illegally from India gets 5 years prison for collecting victim money for calls claiming to be from police
- Customs seizes $3.5 million in counterfeit jewelry en route from China to Puerto Rico
- India: New Delhi police bust phishing gang, arrest three; made fake bank websites too
- Indiana: State AG sues fake company that called owners of timeshares in Mexico and claimed to have renters; used stolen identity of local man
- Iowa: Florida man charged with grandparent fraud
- Florida woman arrested for battery with a Pringles can
- Woman arrested for battery for throwing a watermelon at her boyfriend
- FTC sends $903,000 in refunds to victims of Pure Green Coffee over weight loss claims
- FTC gets injunction and asset freeze against business opportunity scam that also engaged in credit repair
- Banking Committee clears nomination of Jonathon McKernan to head the CFPB
- FTC sends $25.5 million in refunds to victims of two tech support frauds
- FTC providing $15.5 million to victims of Career Step over deceptive placement claims
- Los Angeles: Five arrested over scheme using ID theft to get unemployment benefits; got $3.3 million
- Washington, DC: Former cop pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $35,000
- Pittsburgh: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $14.5 million
- New Jersey: Man gets 40 months prison for theft of unemployment benefits; got $570,000
- DOGE reports $300 million in Covid loans went to children eleven years old and younger
- El Paso: Woman arrested over PPP fraud; got $2.3 million
- Texas: Tax preparer gets 57 months prison for PPP and tax fraud; must pay $10.2 million in restitution
- North Carolina: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; recruited others to apply using stolen ID’s
- Florida: Patrick Walsh and companies agree to civil settlement with DOJ over false information in PPP loans; to pay $20 million
- Florida: Woman gets two years prison for PPP fraud that used ID theft; got $2 million
- Thailand arrests over 100 for work at scam compounds
- India flies 300 home from scam compounds through Thailand
- Thailand arrests man for laundering money for 70 scam compounds/call centers
- Thousands from around the world released from scam compounds but now stuck in camps in Thailand
- Boston: Nigerian man extradited from the UK; used information stolen from Massachusetts tax preparers to do stolen identity refund fraud; sought millions
- Seattle: Nigerian man extradited from the UK and charged with stolen identity refund fraud
- FBI warns that corporate executives are getting letters claiming systems are corrupted by ransomware
- California: Three Romanian men arrested for ATM skimming were released on bond; they have since disappeared
- UK: Leicestershire police arrest two men for ATM skimming
- Texas: Police arrest two Romanian men for ATM skimming; search found skimmer laboratory making the devices
- Pennsylvania: Two men (Romanians?) in Gettysburg arrested for ATM skimming