Socure Soars to $4.5 Billion Valuation In Latest Round
High-flying Socure has reached a valuation that many would have considered unheard of just a year ago. The company raised $450 million in funding for its Series E round led by Accel and T. Rowe Price. Socure is now valued at over $4.5 billion dollars, up dramatically from their last valuation of $1.6 billion in […]
Aussies Scammed Out Of $33 Billion. They’re Fighting Back
Australians are being scammed out of $33 Billion a year and the Labor Government is vowing to launch major initiatives to crack back on scammers. A report by the Daily Mail, indicates that Australia’s Cyber Security Centre has revealed scams more than doubled in 2020 before doubling again this year. Things are getting bad down […]
Are Fake ID Theft Claims Inflating ID Theft Losses?
Identity theft claims are sky high; Javelin reported over $56 billion in identity theft losses for 2020 alone. That’s a 300% increase over 2019 and the highest ever reported by the company. And they are not the only ones. The FTC also shows a doubling of fraud over 2020. What’s happening here? Why is identity […]
3 Reasons Synthetic Identity Fraud Keeps Growing So Fast
Everyone is concerned with Synthetic Identity Fraud. Everywhere you look, a new article or new study points out the growth in this type insidious type of fraud. But surprisingly, Synthetic Identity Fraud continues to climb each year with companies like Accenture claiming that up to 20% of banks bad debt losses could be attributable to […]
At 81 She Became a Multi-Million Dollar Money Mule
She was an octogenarian, and not one that you would ever consider would be involved in a multi-million dollar fraud case. She was 81 and had led a relatively clean lifestyle. Then she met a bad man that she fell madly in love with who ruined her life. This week the Justice Department announced that […]
The Fraud Fighter Podcast Is A Great Resource For You
I am always looking for great resources to boost my fraud knowledge and I found a great resource recently. Hosted by a former white-collar federal criminal investigator Robert Nordlander, the Fraud Fighter Podcast helps fraud professionals find the best tools, practices, opportunities, and people to answer your questions about fraud and forensic accounting. He’s a […]
Elaborate Fraud Ring Used 12 Year Old’s SSN To Buy Cars
A man in Hamilton Ohio ran a sophisticated fraud ring using the social security number of a 12-year-old girl to purchase 15 cars. Austel Stokes, the alleged ringleader of the fraud ring, used the fake name Robert Degraff and used the girl’s social security number to create a brand new identity. He purchased 15 cars […]
Giving Out Your Deets For Quick Cash Is Bad News
Giving out your details (or deets) for quick cash on Snapchat, Instagram can land you in hot water. Gangs are always looking for new ways to launder their money, and in cities like London, Birmingham, and Manchester, using money mules has become one of their favorite methods. Young and vulnerable people are convinced by criminals, […]
Would This Zelle Scam Fool You? It Might, It’s That Good.
Maryann Miller, a global fraud fighter, shared this vicious new fraud scam that is very believable. The scam starts with a very realistic message from Bank of America, and then soon a social engineering is calling you from a spoofed BofA number and draining your bank account. Would you fall for this scam? Many people […]
100% of Argentina Had Their Data Breached
This just in. The Record reports that a hacker breached the Argentinian government’s IT network and stole ID card details for the country’s entire population. That data is now being sold online. The entire country has had its data breached in a single attack. The details are a literal gold mine of information for fraudsters […]
Is The Next Big Fraud For Hire Service BEC?
Palo Alto Networks research team – Unit 42 – is warning that BEC as a service is rising and that Business Email Compromise continues to be one of the biggest threats today. According to the report covered on ZDNET, the security team pored through hundreds of BEC cases, finding the average wire fraud attempted was […]
HSBC Raises the Bar on Fraud and Scam Education
Every so often a bank releases a really great video on fraud to educate their consumers on how not to become a victim. Well, this week HSBC did just that and released this brilliant fraud and scam education video titled “Fraud: Don’t Miss a Trick”. And they did it with humor and magic. Check it […]
Growth Over Safety -A History of Facebook Revealed
Facebook seems to have a pretty bad record of protecting consumers from fraud, deceit, disinformation, and scams. And that includes Facebook Marketplace, Instagram and even WhatsApp. And all of those companies have one thing in common – Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook generates over $5 billion in profit, has over 3 billion users worldwide, yet they can’t […]
Sole Proprietors Raided The EIDL Loan Program
The Paycheck Protection Loan Program (PPP) is shaping to be the most fraud-plagued government program in history. So it should come as no surprise that it is being rocked by more revelations of preposterous fraud. This week Hannibal Ware, the Inspector General of the SBA, released a report citing over $4.5 billion in potentially fraudulent […]
Lexis and ID.me Square Up In Unemployment Fraud Battle
Watching fraud vendors go to war with each other can be interesting. Fraud prevention firms Lexis Nexis and ID.me are squaring up in a battle to get states to invest in their aging unemployment benefit systems. And CEOs, Haywood Talcove of Lexis and Blake Hall of Id.me are not pulling punches when it comes to […]
Will You Fall for A Scam? 4 Things Can Predict It.
In 2017, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation) joined with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Institute for Marketplace to launch a two-year study of how people react to attempted financial scams. After 2 years of exhaustive research and interviews, researchers concluded that 4 factors played a major role in why victims become victims. The […]
Criminals Increasingly Turn Fraud Into a Violent Crime
In an article published recently by The Sun, armed criminal thugs are stopping victims in the street and forcing them to turn over their online banking credentials so they can commit fraud. Once the criminals gain access to the victim’s account, they quickly siphon and drain the funds, depositing them into “mule”. As fraud and […]
Fraud Magnets Will Make You Drown In Fraud
Have you heard the term “Fraud Magnet“? A fraud magnet has such incredibly weak fraud controls that it creates a strong pulling force attracting any fraudster looking for the fastest easiest way to steal money. A fraud magnet can be a product – like a new mobile payment service. A fraud magnet can be a […]
To Stop Rise in Scams, UK Bank Wants to Slow Down
Fraudsters in the UK are stealing record amounts of cash from customers. According to UK Finance, the organization that tracks Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud, scammers are stealing £4 million each and every day from bank customers in the UK. To curb the massive and rising fraud, one bank – Nationwide- wants to slow down […]
Nationwide Hunt for $1,000 Credit Card Fraudster?
A federal arrest warrant was issued this afternoon for Brian Laundrie for fraudulent use of a Capital One Debit Card. The arrest warrant which was issued by the FBI shows unauthorized charges worth more than $1,000 were made during the time his girlfriend was missing. Laundrie who has been labeled a “person of interest” in […]
The Activation of Hundreds of Thousands of Fraudsters
Joey Pizzoloto of Auto Finance interviewed me about the impact of unemployment fraud on Auto Finance. You can read the original article here – Unemployment Fraud Activates Hundreds and Thousands of Fraudsters Article by Joey Pizzoloto of Auto Finance News The same economic stimulus that kept consumers current on their auto payments is giving rise […]