China executes 11 organized crime members linked to Myanmar scam compounds
China executes four more from scam compounds
India: Nigerian Yahoo boy, member of Black Axe, arrested for murdering his accomplice with a shovel and cutting off his head in dispute over $1000 in fraud proceeds
Texas: Law enforcement raids Indian-owned jewelry shop used to launder gold received from fraud victims who had been told they needed to keep money “safe” in call from LE impersonators; $55 million involved
Identity Theft Resource Center releases annual report; data breaches up 79% over the last five years; number of ID theft victims fell sharply from 1.36 billion in 2024 to 278.8 million in 2025; ransomware was also down
83 year old man in Ohio who shot and killed an Uber driver who came to pick up money from grandparent scam gets 21 years prison
DOJ announces creation of new civil division and affirmative litigation branch; consolidates consumer issues
New scams in old bottles: Years ago it was common for scammers to sell rare coins as great investments. Coins are graded on an MS scale, and for those most valuable it is very difficult for most of us to determine the difference in grade ourselves. Thus the scammers bought cheaper coins, claimed that they were a higher grade, and urged consumers to simply lock them away and wait for them to appreciate – which of course they never did. The key was lying about the grading of the coins.
Of course no scam really goes away. Now scammers are misgrading trading cards. A jury in New York recently convicted Anthony Curcio of meticulously faking grades to boost the value of big-dollar trading cards, including Pokémon trading cards and an iconic Michael Jordan rookie card, to rip off buyers seeking collectibles in prime condition. His co-defendant, Iosif “Joe” Bondarchuk, had previously pleaded guilty for his role in the $2 million scam.
Curcio, youth sports coach, motivational speaker working with youth in the field of drug abuse and crime prevention, is a five time best-selling author of children books, and convicted bank robber for a Brinks armored car heist.
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 arrests man for “digital arrest” scam; pretended to be bank employee
- Kansas: Police stop finds traveling retail theft crew ripping off stores with apparent credit card fraud
- FBI seizes darknet forum which advertises hacking services used by ransomware gangs
- Singapore police investigate 217 for frauds and acting as money mules in most recent effort
- Connecticut: Woman from Peru pleads guilty to pickpocketing scheme; gang flew into the US to steal purses and wallets and ran up credit card bills
- New Zealand: Tasmania reports major drop in losses to scams last year
- Cleveland: Two men from India arrested for laundering money from tech support victims; in “related” incident India raids nine tech support call centers
- Maryland: Montgomery county arrests ten money mules as part of international fraud network
- New Hampshire: Man pleads guilty to stealing benefits from man in nursing home; took $225,000
- Tulsa: Mexican couple get five and three years prison for making and selling thousands of counterfeit IDs
- Pittsburgh: Woman pleads guilty to laundering money for grandparent scam group from Dominican Republic
- US to deport 79 Nigerians over fraud, drug crimes and violence
- North Carolina: Man gets a year prison for selling counterfeit airbags
- India: Delhi police bust government impersonation call center, arrest 55
- Actual dumb question by a lawyer: ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing? WITNESS: No.. ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor? WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar. ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless? WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
- FTC appoints Levi Swank as deputy head of Bureau of Consumer Protection
- FTC announces two new rulemakings; one on disclosure of fees for rental housing, the other to redo Click to Cancel for subscriptions
- Nearly 750,000 Suspicious Activity Reports have been filed by banks in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) in 2024 that should have flagged benefit fraud there
- State of Michigan sentences woman to seven months prison for PPP fraud
- Michigan: Professor here from Nigeria pleads guilty to fraud from early learning center that got over $1 million
- Georgia: Man gets 15 years prison for PPP and tax fraud; got $9.6 million from PPP
- San Diego: Half of community college students are “ghosts” who collect federal loans and grants but never attend
- Third member of Georgia house of representatives indicted for fraud in getting unemployment benefits
- Iowa: Man gets 33 months prison for PPP fraud; also convicted of domestic abuse
- Boston: Four, including at least two Venezuelans, charged with using 115 stolen identities to steal over $1 million in SNAP food stamp benefits and pandemic benefits
- UK: National Crime Agency launches campaign to tackle BEC fraud involving fake invoices
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Center and US Secret Service disrupt $1.7 million BEC fraud
- US finalizes seizure of $400 billion from cryptomixer used to launder money from frauds
- Chinese scammers laundered $16.1 billion in crypto in 2025
- UK: Losses by victims who sent money to romance frauds jumped 37% last year
- Nigeria: Police arrest man who was fleeing at airport for romance fraud