Addressing consumer fraud around the world. The Baker Fraud Report focuses on mass marketing fraud – where victims never meet the fraudster in person but communicate over the phone, though the mail, or on the internet.
GAO issues new study of consumer fraud in the US
FTC releases new data on top text message scams of 2024
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Road toll text messages scams tied back to Chinese operation
Trump issues Executive order to crack down on ticket scalping and undisclosed fees to event tickets
Tools and resources available to scammers to ease their work
A scam by any other name would smell as bad. One thing I’ve been encountering are attempts to come up with new names for old scams, even when there is no apparent reason for that. For example, Chainalysis is reporting that the largest fraud they see come from “automated push payments,” which appears to be no more than fraud victims sending money to fraudsters from their banks. So why the use of this new terminology? I’ve similar concerns about the use of terms like “smishing” (scam text messages seeking data) and vishing (same, but through a phone call).
I don’t see how use of these terms really helps the public understand what is going on. Are these just a bit too clever? Is there any way such terms actually help?
NYT: How scam compounds rely on a very organized money mule system to get the proceeds from victims
CBC: Third part in series on grandparent scams. How police use surveillance and other tools for locate and make arrests of scammers
Canada: CBC Why Montreal is a hub of grandparent fraud: (video 3:01)
Text Messages about unpaid road tolls: We’ve warned about these frauds before, but text messages claiming people need to click a link to pay tolls has just exploded. The FBI reports that they are now getting two thousand complaints per month, and toll road operators and local authorities around the country have recently issued warnings about this fraud.
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Australia releases 2024 fraud data
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US Better Business Bureau releases annual report on complaints to its Scam Tracker system
FTC announces plans for National Consumer Protection Week March 2-8
Canada’s Fraud Protection Month in March focusses on impersonation fraud
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What goes on with Social Security? I see DOGE is looking into this, and I’m really curious what they will find. Identity theft is one of the top frauds in the US. Usually that includes using someone else’s SSN. I’ve heard that those here illegally use others SSNs to apply for jobs, and that they pay in but can’t get benefits because its not really their number. Is this true? With millions here illegally, are we actually paying benefits to those with stolen ID’s? I’d think the government would discuss that, but I’ve never seen it raised. So let’s see what they find. Massive amounts of money may be involved.
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It looks like people are finally getting serious about Scam Compounds in Southeast Asia. Premier Xi recently announced a crack down on these operations, and Thailand recently cut power and cell phones into Myanmar. And most recently this piece of good news:
Militias in Myanmar to deport 10,000 people from scam compounds to Thailand, 500 at a time
Want to know why fraud victims get the blame? (By Anthony Pratkanis) The media exalt and excuse con criminals with little questioning of their claims. Case in point: Elizabeth Holmes Breaks Her Silence in First Interview from Prison: ‘It’s Been Hell and Torture’ (Exclusive)
Her troubles — brought on by her choices — are detailed with sympathy. The impact on victims: briefly touched on in an easily missed middle paragraph with little detail on the financial, emotional, and trust toll on victims (and on whistleblowers). Her claim that failure is not fraud is not challenged with the details of her scheme to defraud investors for which a jury found Holmes guilty on multiple counts of fraud.
Her claim that she is working while in prison on new health care advances is taken at face value. How? She has no lab, and the knowledge of biochem, medical devices, medical sensors, or anything else that might lead to a breakthrough never manifested itself at Theranos. The media often portray fraudulent organizations, con criminals, and those accused of fraud as heroes: Enron, Theranos, FTX, Wirecard, uBiome, Barry Minkow, Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Martin Shkreli, Charlie Javice, Joanna Smith-Griffin, Jessica Richman (among others) were all featured for their “business” acumen in Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, Business Insider, and similar media. Even AARP has featured in their magazine the good Michael Milken is doing. No wonder we are awash in fraud. It is a virtue not a crime — at least for some in the media.
Text messages offering jobs. I’ve been getting quite a few of these. Who sends them? They are frauds, and seem to be on the increase. Watch out, and warn your friends.
The great Google Ads heist: criminals ransack advertiser accounts
via fake Google ads. “Online criminals are targeting individuals and businesses that advertise via Google Ads by phishing them for their credentials —ironically — https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/arizona-woman-pleads-guilty-fraud-scheme-illegally-generated-17-million-revenue-northvia fraudulent Google ads.
• The scheme consists of stealing as many advertiser accounts as possible by impersonating Google Ads and redirecting victims to fake login pages.”
• Advertisers are constantly trying to outbid each other to reach potential customers by buying ad space on the world’s number one search engine.
• We first started noticing suspicious activity related to Google accounts somewhat accidentally, and after a deeper look we were able to trace it back to malicious ads for… Google Ads itself! Very quickly we were overwhelmed by the onslaught of fraudulent “Sponsored” results, specifically designed to impersonate Google Ads, . . . • While it is hard to believe such a thing could actually happen, the proof is there when you click on the 3-dot menu that shows more information about the advertiser.” (thanks to Judy Yates)
