Online Banking Services Blocked as Hackers Hit Lloyds
Although not officially reported by Lloyds, sources are saying today that Millions of customers online banking services were disrupted as cyberhackers launched a massive DDOS attack on Lloyds about 2 weeks ago. Lloyds Banking Group would not confirm whether the outage occurred as a result a cyberattack. “There was an issue with our internet banking, […]
Mortgage Application Fraud Index Rises This Year
CoreLogic released their latest mortgage application fraud index and they report that the mortgage index increased to 122 for the fourth quarter of 2016. The trend shows increasing risk for the year overall; up from a National Index value of 115 for Q4 2015, and 108 for Q3 2016. That’s a pretty significant increase. Experts […]
Western Union Fined Millions For Not Stopping Fraud
The Consumerist today reported that Western Union will pay over half a billion dollars for not doing enough to stop wire fraud globally. And they were fined primarily because they never listened to their fraud investigators years ago. I have written in the past that Wire Fraud is the scourge of all fraud against consumers […]
Top 10 Fraud Types for 2017 Based on Losses
It was a bad year for fraud. A very bad year. Maybe the worst as I had written about in this article – Why Fraud is Worse Now Than Ever in History. I spent the last several weeks researching the Top 10 Banking Fraud losses here in the US based on 2016. I wanted to understand […]
25 Most Popular Passwords. Warning – Do Not Use These.
Keeper Security has performed an analysis of compromised hacked data and made some startling conclusions. American’s use really dumb passwords with alarming regularity. In fact, 17% of accounts are protected with the stupidest password of all ‘123456″. It’s hard to believe that 1 in 5 accounts in the US are protected with something so simple. […]
Mortgage Fraud Soars in Canada As Volumes Increase
What lending volumes increase, fraud rates increase. We have seen that time and time again here in the US. And now, Canada’s mortgage boom is leading to a boom of another type – mortgage fraud. According to Equifax, who analyzes fraud trends in Canada, reported this week a massive increase of mortgage fraud of 52% […]
The Absurdity of Home Improvement Lending Fraud
Could your plumber or home repair guy be behind the next big lending implosion in the US? If you look at the fastest growing loan type here in the US called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE loans, that could be the case. PACE loans, set up by the government and are designed to help […]
2017’s First Fraud Trend? Cardless ATM Fraud
That didn’t take long. The fraudster’s found a loophole in yet another banking service which was designed to provide customers easier access to their money through ATM machines. The service works like this, you request a one-time pin number sent to your mobile phone. You tap your phone and enter the PIN number on the ATM […]
The Enron Fraud Experience Can Be Yours With This App
There has never been a larger, more systematic, or creatively planned fraud swindle the likes of Enron. The story of Enron was one of greed and corruption, but it was also one of a toxic sales culture where insiders were hell bent on bending ethics and business practices at the expense of investors and customers. I […]
It’s Back! Mail Forwarding Fraud Sky Rockets in Canada
Remember mail forward fraud from back in the 1980’s? It’s a pretty low-tech fraud that appeared to have all but disappeared as fraudsters favored more advanced techniques like cyber-fraud. But it is back. In a big way up in Canada. Fraudsters are locating individuals names, phone number and current address and requesting that all mail […]
Obama Sanctions Two Notorious Russian Fraudsters
Two notorious Russian Cyber criminals were sanctioned by Obama this week but not for their involvement in the Russian election hacking but for widespread fraud against US banks. The two hackers have been on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for computer intrusion, identity theft, and banking fraud. They have wreaked havoc on the American Banking system for […]
Call Protect – Get This Fraud Service for Family Members
There is a new way to protect yourself and your family from being a victim of identity theft and fraud. ATT just announced a new app called “Call Protect” which you can download straight to your phone to protect you from fraudsters. It promises to stop spam calls, calls from fraudsters dialing for dollars and […]
Fraud Scientists Uncover Reverse Occupancy Fraud
Liang Tian, a Fraud Scientist with CoreLogic in San Diego, has proved that fraudsters will do anything to fool mortgage lenders into approving fraudulent applications. And that includes doing a complete 180 on their fraud schemes to avoid detection. The latest scam? Reverse Occupancy Fraud where a borrower buys a home as an investment property […]
Can you Fight Fraud with Credit Score Models? NOPE.
In 2004, the mortgage industry was booming. Lenders were originating more loans than ever before. At its height, mortgage companies were originating and in many cases selling close to $3 trillion in loans annually. Mortgage production had literally tripled in 2 years. It was a lending boom. It seemingly didn’t matter what type of […]
Skimming Fraud! Watch a Hacked ATM Spit Out Cash
This is a good video that shows the next generation of Chip skimming and how it can be deployed to make ATM machines spit out cash to fraudsters.