Police track down top cryptocurrency ATM users amid scam concerns
Canada: Profile of Gareth West, believed to be the Montreal mastermind behind grandparent scams; he has now fled
Interpol announces sharp rise in cybercrime in Africa; issues new Threat Report here
Interpol announces sharp rise in cybercrime in Africa; issues new Threat Report here
Part 5 on Gangs: Mexico/Peru. I’ve always been surprised at how little consumer fraud seems to come from Mexico. But many from the US and Canada have bought timeshares in Mexico, and people that can not longer visit (or afford them) have long been subject to frauds claiming to have a buyer. Of course fees must be paid in advance, and sellers are assured that those fees will be returned to them at closing. But of course there is no closing. The Jalisco drug cartel seems to be involved in this fraud, and some workers have been kidnapped into work there – and later killed – at call centers doing this fraud.
Peru also has been a home to several different frauds concentrating on Spanish-speaking people in the US. Several have been sued by the FTC or prosecuted in the US.
I would be quite surprised if there are not also fraud gangs operating from places like Brazil or Argentina, but I’ve not seen or heard of those. Possibly they are simply in Spanish Language press, and thus they are not on our radar. But one would think that someone would report on them.
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
- Australia: Law enforcement busts ring selling counterfeit goods worth $10 million on social media; arrest three
- Cleveland: Two Chinese men arrested and charged with tech support fraud; sent runners to victim homes to pick up money
- Chicago: Nigerian man extradited from the UK gets 3.5 years in prison for BEC, romance fraud, and stolen identity refund fraud
- Utah: Logan police arrest two Ukrainians who went to victims’s home after call saying they were federal agents who needed gold to protect victim assets
- Australia says text message spam went down 62% last year
- Hong Kong Police arrest 118 people for frauds; include ticket scams and money mules for different frauds
- California: Woman who ran student loan phone scam gets a year prison for ID theft; took in $6 million
- Delaware: Owner of precious metals depository gets 65 years in prison; stole assets he was entrusted with; got $76 million
- Canada: Medicine Hat police arrest three for grandparent fraud
- Kentucky: Customs seizes $25 million in counterfeit jewelry coming from China
- Taiwan arrests 10 for counterfeit ring bringing in goods from China worth $10 million
- Wired: Telegram cut off dark web market that was supporting online fraud; did nothing while crooks rebuilt
- Spain: Police on the Canary Islands arrest man who “rented” over 100 apartments that did not exist
- India: Police bust two call centers who used fake Paypal, Amazon and bitcoin invoices to defraud recipients
- UK: Chinese student in London gets jail for using SMS Blaster to send massive numbers of fraudulent text messages from his car
- Kansas town has lights stolen from top of police car
- Crook tries to carjack unmarked police car – that was full of cops
- FTC settles case with WalMart for not doing enough to prevent fraud using its money transfer services; to pay $10 million
- FTC gets settlement in business opportunity case and industry ban
- FTC settles with Care.com over deceptive claims about extent of jobs available; to pay $8.1 million
- FTC gets order against online business opportunity scam Ascend ecom
- FTC sues substance abuse company that used google ads to grab customers looking for numbers to call other centers
- FTC sends $126 million to those overcharged on Fortnite; reopens claims process
- Pittsburgh: CPA sentenced to two years prison for PPP fraud; got $14.5 million
- New York: Upstate man convicted of identity theft to get unemployment benefits
- Texas: Jury convicts woman from Puerto Rico over tens of millions lost to PPP fraud
- North Carolina: Basketball scout gets six years prison for PPP fraud; got $300,000
- Baltimore: Man gets 78 months prison for ID theft to get unemployment benefits; got $2.3 million
- Connecticut: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $96,000
- Dallas: Seven members of a family plead guilty to PPP fraud
- New Orleans: Man indicted for PPP fraud; got $145,000
- Thailand: Police raid luxury villa; arrest 21, all but one Koreans, who were running crypto romance fraud; rescue one man who had been kidnapped
- 200 from other countries who were rescued from Myanmar scam compounds still stuck in camps there
- Man who stole $245 million in crypto pleads guilty and agrees to testify against others, had his parents kidnapped after theft
- Israeli-linked group steals $90 million from Iranian crypto exchange
- India arrests ten Chinese for laundering crypto from online fraud
- Australia identifies 90 victims, mules, and scammers from data of Bitcoin ATMs
- Ukraine to extradite ransomware developer to the US
- Attack shuts down systems of Mower County, Minnesota
- Ransomware hits Krispy Kreme; data lost
- Baton Rouge:Romanian man arrested for ATM skimming
- St. Louis: Clerk at 7-11 convenience store spots installation of ATM skimmer; leads to arrest of five Romanians
- Arizona: Jamaican man extradited to the US; charged in combination romance fraud and lottery fraud
- Jamaica: Two men convicted of lottery fraud get fines of $100,000 each
- Wisconsin: Nigerian man in the US on a student visa gets 42 months prison for romance fraud; to be deported afterwards; laundered money and sent it to Nigeria
- Nigeria: Man gets 76 years prison for online extortion scam that led to suicide of Canadian teen
- Houston: Couple (Nigerians) sentenced; husband gets 188 months and wife 121 months prison for romance fraud; got at least $3.1 million