Rhode Island: Two executives of company that provided telco services to businesses in India they knew were tech support frauds plead guilty
Elderly California couple dead after wife sent large sums to fraudster pretending to be Tom Selleck; apparently husband killed her and then himself
Is that “local” business really where it says it is? In the last issue I covered the FTC’s recent case against Premium Home Services, which ran google ads and offered plumbing, electrical, and other home repair services with “local” addresses and phones along with great (fake) reviews. But at least 10,000 victims found that calls really went to overseas call centers, who collected money and then tried, often unsuccessfully, to find someone who could appear and do the work. It is troubling that anyone would be able to game the online system this way, thought I fear that (at least) fake florists and locksmiths use the same tactics. More law enforcement here – not to mention better work by Google – might be a real benefit to consumers
Review and Recommendation: I heartily recommend a series of fiction books by CJ Box that all involve Wyoming Fish and Game agent Joe Pickett. They each have some sort of crime involving the state -- though these are not typical mystery novels. And I think they are great for any sort of audience.
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
- India: Police bust four fake call centers targeting the US and claiming to offer tax advice; used identities of US government officials
- Kansas City: Man from India gets 15.5 years prison; was courier in scam that called claiming to be law enforcement and that victims needed to keep money “safe,” often providing gold bars; got $4.75 million
- Canada and the US arrest man who developed a huge botnet that infected computers worldwide
- Canada: Halton police arrest two for gift card fraud where they replaced cards with those that had been tampered with
- New Jersey police arrest man who went to victim’s home to pick up money from grandparent fraud
- Singapore police investigate 295 suspected scammers and money mules in two week effort
- Singapore arrests Malaysian woman who was part of scam that impersonated police; gold bars found with her
- Kentucky: Judge shuts down crooked moving company
- Kentucky: Nigerian man gets 115 months prison for laundering money for romance, BEC, and other frauds
- India: Police bust fake tech support call center, arrest 132
- Ohio: Chinese man arrested when he went to collect gold bars from victim of tech support fraud
- Rochester: Man pleads guilty to romance fraud; theft of unemployment benefits, PPP fraud, and illegal charges on credit cards he didn’t own; got $2 million
- Oregon: Man extradited from Romania gets 56 months prison for hacking into State of Oregon computer system and selling access to those systems
- Florida: Jury convicts owner of business that hired off shore telemarketers to call seniors and offer durable medical equipment that was not needed: got $1 billion from Medicare
- FTC settles with Cox Media over deceptive claims that they could use AI to target ads to specific groups; to pay nearly $1 million
- FTC gets credit card processor Cardflex held in contempt of earlier order for handling card transactions for scammers; must pay $6.5 million
- FTC resolves case against Shutterstock video site; alleges insufficient notice of auto renewals and charges; to pay $35 million
- Maryland: Man gets 54 months prison for stealing ID’s of 30 people to get SNAP food stamp benefits
- Maryland: Man (Chinese?) gets three years prison for theft of unemployment benefits; part of a gang that stole ID’s and got $3.5 million
- Minnesota: Ringleader of Feeding Our Future fraud scheme gets 41 years in federal prison
- Minnesota: 15 people (Somalis?) charged for Medicare scam that operated fake day care centers that got $90 million
- Montana: Woman gets 30 months prison for PPP fraud; got $613,000
- New Jersey: Woman who was physical therapist gets a year prison for defrauding health care system of Amtrak
- Illinois: Woman gets a year prison for PPP fraud; got $170,000
- Rockford: Man gets three years prison for PPP and tax fraud
- California: Two medical company owners plead guilty to PPP fraud; got $1 million
- Boston: Man illegally here from Dominican Republic pleads guilty to theft of food stamps and other benefits; used identity theft
- Orlando: Man gets 63 months prison for PPP fraud; got $729,000
- Colorado: Man gets 37 months prison for PPP fraud; got $442,000
- Thailand: Police arrest six Nigerians who were operating romance frauds with AI
- Scam compounds move to Sri Lanka; officials have arrested over 1000
- Philippines: Police arrest 63 at call center apparently doing crypto romance fraud
- Southeast Asia scam compounds are now moving to Indonesia, Chinese officials assert
- Houston: Nigerian man pleads guilty to BEC fraud; another already sentenced
- Australia charges three with BEC fraud; seize gold
- Australia warns of fake crypto trading platforms and apps; commonly red used in crypto romance frauds
- Bitcoin ATM chain Bitcoin Depot files for bankruptcy
- Miami: Man illegally in the US from Canada and another man indicted for theft of crypto; got $13 million
- Colorado: 12 arrested for ATM skimming; appear to all be Romanians; concentrated on 7/11’s
- Texas: San Antonio police arrest man who was skimming gas station pumps
- Minneapolis grocery store owner arrested for skimming EBT cards; then used them to buy goods for his store at Costco; made $1.14 million
- Pittsburgh: Jamaican man who was living in the US illegally pleads guilty to lottery fraud
- Pittsburgh: Jamaican man gets 4.5 years prison for lottery fraud
- Tacoma: Jamaican man gets three years prison for lottery fraud; had been extradited
- UK: Operation led by London police in the UK and Nigeria results in arrests of 31 for romance fraud
- North Carolina: Woman arrested for acting as a money mule for romance fraud; claims she was herself involved with “Elon Musk”
- India arrests four Nigerians for romance fraud
- North Carolina: Nigerian man extradited for romance fraud and charged
- Cleveland: Three from Ghana charged with romance fraud; part of gang and others in the ring have been prosecuted
- North Carolina: Man extradited from Nigeria arrested by FBI for romance fraud