Baker Fraud Report

Top Stories

Brooklyn: Cybersecurity expert pleads guilty to ransomware scheme where he claimed he could fight ransomware without paying; actually did pay ransom secretly in many cases, but got paid far more; charged clients $19 million; paid $8 million in ransom

North Carolina: Dual US/Ukrainian man pleads guilty to running a massive fraud money laundering operation; had 15,000 money mules in network; at least $10 million stolen from hacked US bank accounts

DOJ announces results of major international effort to fight frauds concentrating on Nigeria and Ghana last week; dozens arrested; 3.7 accounts removed; over 100 victims trapped working in scam call centers rescued

Nonexistent Pets.  People looking for a puppy or kitten often begin their search online.  But crooks steal cute photos and advertise them for sale online, often for less than real puppies sell for.  Those who agree find that there are additional costs at each stage, claiming they need to pay for special crates, shots, airport fees etcetera.  But the pets don’t exist and never arrive.  See my original study on this here. 

Tips: Do a reverse image search of pet. And get the seller to connect on zoom with a copy of today’s version of the local newspaper.  Petscams.com is a not for profit that is a great place to research and report these frauds.

Full report here

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Fraud Studies.  Over the next few weeks I’m going to revisit and highlight some of the studies I did over the last few years.  Most of the essential information about them and how they operate remains equally true today, but I’ll note where significant things have changed.

Crooked Movers. If you are planning a move many people just get on line and look for someone local with a great price. Crooks will give you a great price over the phone without first actually looking at what you have. Honest movers will want to see the goods in person.  So after the crooks appear and load up they will announce that the price has dramatically increased – and must be paid in cash.  Or they arrive at the new place and demand more money before they unload. And if you don’t or can’t pay they simply drive away with your goods. Recently a Kansas warehouse has been trying to reach out and return the goods of hundreds of people.  So take a look at my study if you are planning a move:

Two tips: use a major company (its worth it), and in ANY move put an Airtag in your goods so you can track where they are.

Full report here

WSJ: How Romanian gangs are using ATM skimming techniques to rip off US welfare benefit cards

FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center reissues warning of government impersonation scams with data from January 2026 through July

• Some impersonate IC3 itself
• 61,000 complaints of law enforcement or government impersonation scams, with losses totaling more than $1.6 billion
• Jury duty frauds had 6,833 IC3 complaints involving this kind of scam, with losses totaling nearly $36 million.
• Claims that passports, drivers licenses or other items are expiring 496 IC3 complaints involving this kind of scam, with losses totaling more than $348,000

Full report here

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FTC takes major action against Amway multilevel marketing operation; follows earlier case from twenty years ago finding Amway operated legitimately; to pay $225 million; may permit Anway to continue operating as is in other countries

South Africa arrests six members of Black Axe gang to the US over romance fraud

WSJ Vigilante who spends his days finding fake job recruiters and fraud; mainly on LinkedIn

Full report herehttps://mailchi.mp/f849365aac6b/baker-fraud-report-9596968?e=4dd04c925b

Atlanta: Russian man charged with huge bank account takeover fraud; used phony copycat bank web sites to steal sign in data and then stole money; was extradited from the country of Georgia; got “millions”

• Where do scam compounds move to? With Thailand and Cambodia cracking down on scam compounds with huge call centers that made many billions, there is surely a temptation to replicate those efforts.  There are indications that at least some have moved to places like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Ukraine.  Of course these massive operations need at least tacit support from the local governments.

Full Report here

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DOJ announces creation of nationwide Fraud Detection Center

FBI investigating online company that advertises scans of 153 million driver’s licenses from the US and Canada

Europol announces that the US, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria have taken down a botnet that has affected 11 million computers and that has been running for twenty years

Canada sees fraud losses in the first six months of the year reach $351 million; nearly half of that is investment fraud (meaning crypto romance fraud)

Does shutting down huge scam compounds eliminate fraud?  Its hard not to be happy that these massive centers that kidnap people and rob people across the world are being close down.  But my experience is that when large fraud centers are closed a raft of small ones quickly emerges.  And former employees and managers have developed the skills and expertise to run these new operations.  It looks like these frauds are simply moving to different countries or setting up shop clandestinely in smaller units. So the fight against fraud has to continue.

Full report here

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White House issues Executive order to combat transnational internet fraud

• Analysis: Order allows private companies to hack ransomware and other criminal gangs

Ohio: Court affirms $83 million judgment in case by Ohio AG against man responsible for billions of robocalls

Australia wins court case against  eHarmony dating platform over deceptive subscription practices

Interpol operation targets Black Axe financial networks; 58 arrested, 39 in South Africa

FinCEN warns of “ghost students” who sign up for college using ID theft and then collect federal loan money, never really attend; $120 billion goes through this system each year

Full report here

Top Stories

White House issues Executive order to combat transnational internet fraud

• Analysis: Order allows private companies to hack ransomware and other criminal gangs

Ohio: Court affirms $83 million judgment in case by Ohio AG against man responsible for billions of robocalls

Full report here

France to ban all marketing calls to the public except where there is prior consent to receive them

Consumer Federation of America reports that Americans lost $148 billion for frauds last year; up 25%

AARP: Is that real photo being used by a romance or other potential scam? How to do a reverse image search, and the tools to do it

Full report here

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House Financial Services Committee releases bipartisan report on the need to do more about international fraud operations

Interpol finds that 55% of internet crime from Africa in linked to AI; includes Romance fraud and BEC

Minnesota: DOJ to return $8.1 million to victims of magazine subscription frauds

Open AI says it has disabled the ChatGPT being used by scam compounds in Cambodia to do romance scams, crypto romance frauds, and law enforcement impersonation

Seattle: Man pleads guilty to hacking cloud data storage and demanding ransom from data owners; got at least $2.5 million

Full report here