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.
WSJ: How a crypto romance scam cleaned out a senior citizen
Worth Remembering: Eighty years ago the allies returned to Europe in the landings at Normandy, with the largest Armada the world had ever seen. Thousands of brave men lost their lives in the desperate struggle on the beaches. I was fortunate to have known one man who was there on Omaha and lived to tell about it. I’m not at all sure that I would have been brave enough to have done this. So take a moment to think about them today.
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New FTC report looks at which companies scammers are impersonating
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Los Angeles: Two Chinese men arrested for laundering $73 million from crypto romance frauds
Need an expert witness for consumer protection or fraud issues? Let me know.
Fraud Studies: Here are links to the studies I’ve written for the Better Business Bureau: puppy fraud, romance fraud; BEC fraud, sweepstakes/lottery fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud, gift cards, free trial offer frauds, job scams, online shopping fraud, fake check fraud and crypto scams
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Can I get rid of spam email? Under federal law those who send email have to have a working unsubscribe feature. The FTC enforces this. But I got some emails recently, and when I hit unsubscribe and found that I needed to reenter my email address. As you’ve probably guess I’ve since started getting a flood of spam. I’ve not seen any enforcement from the FTC for years against spam emails. This industry clearly has some organization, and some of my spam is on behalf of at least of some legitimate organizations like the AARP.
FTC warns that if someone claims your social security number has been used IT IS A FRAUD
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Another troubling story about a fraud victim. As I’ve previously reported, 74 year old Ann Mayer was arrested for trying to rob a credit union in a Cincinnati suburb recently. She had a gun, had taken the license plates off of her car, and had mentioned robbing a bank to family members recently. She was arrested and charged. She had no criminal record. She got $500.
Family members say she was a scam victim herself, and had been sending money to an “unidentified individual.” News articles also say that she’d lost tens of thousands of dollars; others say she lost her life savings.
But we don’t know anything about the scam. Was this a romance fraud? Did the scammer encourage the robbery? Have they tried to track down the scammer?
India busts 76 tech support operations across the country, work with Microsoft and Amazon
Important case about older scam victim. I’ve reported before about William Brock, an 81 year old Ohio man who shot and killed an Uber driver who came to his house to pick up $12,000 for a grandparent scam. Apparently he had been told that his nephew was in a car crash in Charleston and had been arrested. Brock tried to get the phone from the Uber driver, which she refused, and he shot her when she tried to leave. Brock called 911, the police came, and the police answered two subsequent calls from the scammer, who said he was with the police himself. Brock is charged with felony murder.
The news articles give a few interesting facts
Apparently Uber assisted. The phone call to the Uber driver was from Canada, and was from a burner phone. And there are some questions the articles don’t answer/
New Australia Anti-Scam Centre issues first report, for 2023
Warnings issued across the US and Canada of huge spurt in text messages claiming fines are owed for speed cameras and road tolls. Example
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center releases 2023 report on fraud against victim over 60
Canada: CBC reports that Grandparent frauds in Canada have ties to the Italian mafia
Comment about revenge taken by scammers on victims by Professor Anthony Pratkanis: Historically, these sorts of revenge attacks on con grifters are not uncommon. That is why con criminals have developed extensive methods for “cooling out the mark” and “the blow-off.” And they seemed to do that in cases like this as well, either by hiring a legit Uber driver or by placing another (lower level) person who is in on the scam between them and the victim. I think people are becoming increasingly upset and angry at the level of fraud and scams we are all experiencing. A recent study found record levels of people reporting that they had been the target of a fraud attempt and a desire for action to be taken to stop these scams.
Russian hackers got access to emails between Microsoft and the US government
BBB updates my 2020 study on nonexistent vehicles sold online
Oxford and New South Wales Canberra release study on top countries responsible for cybercrime
In order, Russia, Ukraine, China, US, Nigeria, Romania, and North Korea
New Trend: Crooks appearing in person more and more. Until recently it was extremely rare for victims to ever met scammers in person. But of late we have increasing reports that they are sending people in person to pick up money from victims in grandparent fraud, tech support fraud, and now IRS scammers. It seems unlikely that they would send anyone who has useful knowledge of the scam organizations. But this does indicate more of an opportunity for scam victims to alert law enforcement and to see scammers actually arrested.
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