The Biggest Fraud in The History of Pokemon Cards
Youtuber Logan Paul is no stranger to the headlines but his latest story is the most bizarre yet. In a video titled, I Lost $3,500,000 on Fake Pokemon cards, Logan flies to Chicago to verify the validity of an unopened case of 1st edition Pokemon cards. Paul purchased a case of what he believed to […]
In California, 345,000 Victims Had ID Stolen – Including Me
Here we go again. In California, the fraudsters are wreaking havoc by shifting from unemployment fraud to disability fraud. State officials on Monday said they had suspended 345,000 disability claims while they worked to verify the identity of about 27,000 doctors whose credentials were used to file disability claims for purported patients. I wrote about […]
Surprise. Synthetic ID Fraud Has Been Around Since 1938!
Synthetic Identity has been called the fastest-growing financial crime in America. It’s often considered a new and emerging fraud. But would it surprise you to find out that it has been around since 1938? Is America’s fastest-growing financial crime really over 80 years old? The answer is yes. But it wasn’t always called synthetic identity. […]
The Tools Fraud Fighters Use Can Also Be Used By Crooks
I came across an interesting article in Vice – Crook Sells Access to Data Tool Used by Private Investigators. In the report, Joe Cox found that a fraud-focused community on Telegram is advertising access to TLO, a data tool typically used by private investigators to obtain sensitive information on targets, including their Social Security Number […]
The Cat’s Outta The Bag – 10 Fraud Predictions for 2022
The cat is out of the bag ?? ?. And you can’t put the cat back in the bag. Once the cat is out of the bag, it’s out for good. And if 2021 taught us anything, it’s that chronic fraud – like the cat – is here to stay forever. The myth that fraud […]
This Expert Says COVID Fraud Is Grossly Underestimated
Last week, the Secret Service raised the alarm that up to $100 billion in Covid relief funds were stolen by criminals. The White House downplayed that statement by the U.S. Secret Service citing it was old news while possibly inferring that COVID fraud was not a serious issue. But one fraud expert disagrees and claims […]
Secret Service – Covid Fraud Is Enormous – $100 Billion
The Secret Service has appointed an industry vet, Roy Dotson, to handle COVID-related fraud. They have seized $1.2 Billion in funds and returned another $2.3 Billion in funds via ACH. According to the report, this is the Super Bowl of Fraud and believe up to $100 billion in Covid relief funds were stolen by criminals.
Facebook Uses Lawsuit To Disrupt Scammers Attempts
Meta (formerly known as Facebook) filed a federal lawsuit in California to stop scams and phishing attempts against users of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. They announced the lawsuit today. They Are Going After Scammers That Created 39,000 CopyCat Facebook Websites The lawsuit attempts to reveal who is behind these phishing schemes that have been […]
Fintech’s Are Blocking Other Fintechs For Fraud
A report in Forbes today indicates that “fraud is a growing issue for fintech companies, as bad actors are doing everything from stealing identities to exploiting the slow U.S. bank-to-bank transfer network to siphon off money.” The problem has gotten so bad that several companies are now banning transfers for digital banks in a blunt effort to […]
Cat and Mouse – Fraudsters Shift To Disability Fraud Now
Fraud is a game of cat and mouse and we’re watching it in real time in California right now. It’s no secret that California got rocked with unemployment fraud in 2021. The state admitted that they paid out at least $20 billion in fraudulent claims, but many believe the number could actually be much higher. […]
Blue Acorn Made $1B on PPP, Now Congress Has Questions
Scottsdale based Blue Acorn processed billions of dollars in PPP loans and now Congress wants answers on fraud. The company made it remarkably easy for borrowers to obtain PPP funds with their automated systems and collected $1 billion in fees. Fintech’s have a lot to answer for now that the dust has settled. This will […]
Sentilink – Most eCBSV Name Mismatches Not Fraud
Sentilink posted a new article that provides some revealing statistics on the Social Security Administration’s new electronic consent-based social security name matching service. Sentilink, the growing identity company, is one of the early adopters of the program and provides access to the service to banks and lenders. So they are able to provide early read-outs […]
Texas Cracks Back At Fake Dealers and Paper Tag Fraud
Small car dealers in Texas are behind a wave of new paper license plate fraud cases the state is dealing with. The state estimates that it’s a whopping $200 million criminal enterprise and phony car dealerships are being set up to get access to the DMV temporary license plates so that criminals can use them […]
FTC Steps Up Efforts To Stop Spike in Impersonator Scams
In a new press release, The Federal Trade Commission launched a rulemaking today aimed at combatting government and business impersonation fraud, a pernicious and prevalent problem that has grown worse during the pandemic. Impersonators use all methods of communication to trick their targets into trusting that they are the government or an established business and […]
Violent Nigerian Crime Gang Linked To Fraud And Murder
The criminal fraud economy on the surface may seem to be a non-violent group of white-collar criminals but that could not be further from the truth for Black Axe. This violent mafia-style gang that was formed in Nigeria has been linked to murder and fraud and they reportedly infiltrated the country’s political system and ran […]
EDD Fraud – The Biggest Fraud In American History
KCRA, in California, is calling it the biggest fraud in American History and they’ve just released a documentary that outlines how it happened. Beginning in September of 2020, KCRA 3 Investigates producer Dave Manoucheri and Photographer Victor Nieto began traveling across California and interviewing people in other states as part of an unprecedented documentary project […]
Credit Washer Brought His Whole Family Into Scam
This week Michael Griffin, the operator of a North Carolina credit repair business, was sentenced to eight years in prison for creating fake police reports to clean up his clients’ bad credit in a massive credit washing scheme. To carry out the scheme he recruited his family to help run the business, by using synthetic […]
Global Fraud Fighter Travels To 38 Countries to Stop Fraud
Her name is Maryann Miller. She lives in a small flat in the ultra hip Williamsburg New York but you will rarely find her there. Good luck trying to track her down. She could literally be anywhere in the world, and often is. Maryann’s travel schedule is so intense that people have compared her to George Clooney […]
Proliferation of Fake Pay Stub Sites Show How Easy Fraud Is
Everybody wants to pretend they are rich when they apply for a loan. But everybody wants to pretend they’re poor when they have to pay it back. Most people are honest, but there are quite a few that are willing to pretend they’re rich and even lie about how much they make. And a plethora of fake paystub […]
This Dealerships Million Dollar Fraud Scheme is Wild
Car dealer fraud is one of the oldest and most common frauds here in the US. And it seems that some dealerships never stop thinking of new and creative ways to scam both lenders and consumers. And the fraud scheme that the co-owners at Big Red Kia in Norman Oklahoma cooked up is pretty wild. […]
Officials Look Into Womply On PPP Fraud Controls
Toby Scrammel, the CEO of Womply, got a letter from Congress this week about fraud. Womply manages the online lending platform that helped over 1,000,000 businesses get PPP loans this year. The letter came from Senator Clyburn, the Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and the committee has set their sites on […]