Baker Fraud Report

March 25, 2021

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Top Stories

India busts call center, arrest 34; operation ran tech support and social security impersonator scams

UK consumer watchdog buys fake Google reviews for its fake companies

Prison for Russian and Macedonian; operated crooked online Marketplace with slogan: “In Fraud we Trust;”  responsible for purchase and sale of over 4 million credit and debit cards

Grandparent frauds now asking victims to deposit cash into a Wells Fargo ATM; give them a one time access code

Counterfeit check frauds continue to grow

• Industry updates numbers every two years; latest available for 2018
• In 2016 a study said bank themselves lost $789 million; a 25% increase from two years before; and banks stopped 7.8 billion in fake checks in  2016
• In 2018 counterfeit checks cost banks themselves $1.3 billion, and the banks stopped $13.8 billion, or 91% of those
• So losses up considerably; more than 50%

Virus Benefit Theft

• US Labor department sets up new website to report ID theft in unemployment fraud
• Arkansas couple plead guilty to PPP fraud
• London: Two arrested for fraud in virus Bounce Back loans; got £489,000
• Texas: Bar owner charged with PPP fraud; got $123,500
• Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to fraud in unemployment benefits; got $499,000; also used identities of prison inmates
• New Jersey: Man charged with $1.9 million PPP fraud
• Queens, New York: Man indicted for PPP fraud; got $1.7 million
• Florida man indicted for PPP fraud; took in $1.5 million
• Georgia: Ten indicted for fraud in EIDL and PPP loans

Full Report here

My new study for the Better Business Bureau:  Gift Card Payment Scams

• Gift cards are now the top payment methods for complaints to the FTC (excepting online purchases)
• BBB complaints from people who paid with gifts card triples in last two years
• Providing numbers from the back of cards is like sending cash
• Most common cards scammers ask for are eBay, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon and Target
• Older people more likely to be victims

Claim forms are going out for the $125 million settlement between MoneyGram and the FTC/DOJ

Two from Ukraine extradited to the US and charged; laundered money for cyber thieves that stole money from online bank accounts

FINRA releases study on chronic fraud victimization and steps to intervene

Virus Benefit Theft

• DOJ warns of fake websites that capture your information in applying for unemployment benefits
• Fresno: Two indicted for unemployment benefit fraud; ran operation from prison
• Boston: Man arrested for PPP fraud
• Florida couple pleads guilty to PPP fraud; pretended to be farmers; got $1.1 million
• Massachusetts:  Man arrested for fraud in getting unemployment benefits through ID theft in Nevada
• Massachusetts: Man arrested for fraud in PPP and EIDL loans

FTC and SBA give advice for businesses that are asked to repay loans even though they never received one

Full report here

Better Business Bureau releases 2020 scam risk report

• 25% increase in scam tracker complaints
• Two thirds of those who lost money were victims of an online purchase fraud
• Pets and pets supplies largest problem in online purchases
• Employment scams and fake checks still major problems

Robocall study for the US; calls down 10%, but are 25% of all phone calls

A close look at the operations of a Romanian ATM skimming operation centered in Mexico and protected by local politicians 

Agari issues new report on Business Email Compromise fraud

• More phishing emails refer to COVID-19 vaccines
• New tactics to get money from investment commitments
• 333% increase in paycheck diversion
• More than half of BEC attacks request gift cards
• eBay cards 25% of the time

Virus Benefit Theft

• One million bogus unemployment claims in Illinois
• IRS releases information on identity theft, taxes, and unemployment benefits
• State by state contacts for unemployment scam issues
• US Labor Department says at least $63 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims; many by transnational organized crime groups from China, Nigeria, and Russia
• Atlanta: Man charged with PPP fraud
• Houston: Woman charged with PPP fraud; got $3.6 million
• EU investigating $15 billion in fraudulent attempts to sell bogus vaccines to European countries

Full Report here

Top Stories

New Jersey issues report on unlicensed bitcoin machines

• Many don’t comply with federal regulations
• Scammers get victims to deposit money into them
• Propose state licenses and some regulation

New study on how scammers also spend huge efforts contacting customer service centers to try and get access to accounts of others

• Call volume up 42% at these call centers during virus
• Record levels of fraud calls, especially in financial services and insurance industries
• 5% of all calls fraudulent or suspicious
• 80% of call centers say fraud a very serious issue

Competition Bureau in Canada settles with online travel agency over deceptive terms, fake online reviews; company to pay $5.8 million

Virus Benefit Theft

• More than 1 million fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits in Colorado
• £26 billion estimated fraud losses from the UK’s Bounce Back program for small business
• Los Angeles: Man pleads guilty to fraud in getting $500,000 in virus benefits
• Buffalo, New York:  Man charged with PPP fraud
• Wisconsin: Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $1 million
• North Carolina: Woman charged with PPP fraud

Full report here

Top Stories

New law lets law enforcers subpoena U.S. offices of foreign banks for records, even if the records are not in the U.S.

US indicts three hackers from North Korea

• Responsible for Sony hack
• Theft of money from banks around the world
• Cash out scams on ATM’s
• Canadian-American man pleads guilty

New York: Six arrested across the US for laundering money for Ghana-based scam enterprise; handled funds for romance fraud; virus relief fraud; and BEC scams

Virus Benefit Theft

• Florida man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $3.9 million; bought himself a Lamborghini
• PPP fraud in the US may total $4 billion
• San Francisco woman charged with PPP fraud; used names of local lawyers
• Texas: Engineer from India pleads guilty to virus relief fraud; sought $10 million
• Virginia paid out $40 million in unemployment benefits those who applied for them in the name of prisoners in jail
• Iowa: Minnesota man pleads guilty to PPP and EIDL fraud; laundered $1.2 million

Full report here

Top Stories

FTC releases summary of 2020 complaint data

• Losses spike from $1.8 billion to $3.3 billion
• Massive increase in ID theft to get unemployment or other benefits
• Imposter scams #1
• Online shopping #3
• Internet services #3
• Prizes/sweepstakes/lotteries #4
• Telephone and mobile services #5
  
• Canada’s Fraud Centre releases 2020 report; most money lost to romance frauds

Nigeria orders all citizens to register their SIM cards within two weeks

UK Supreme Court rules that the Serious Fraud Office can not make companies produce documents held overseas

Virus Benefit Theft

• Virginia:  CEO pleads guilty to PPP and other fraud against the government
• Two arrested in California for fraud in getting unemployment benefits
• Buffalo, New York:  Two brothers indicted for PPP fraud; sought nearly $7 million
• Oakland: Woman arrested for PPP fraud; got $4.5 million she spent on luxury items
• Florida man indicted for PPP loan fraud; bought mansion and Maserati
• Kentucky seeing massive amounts of unemployment fraud
• Ohio loses $330 million to fraud in unemployment benefits; Nigerian gangs suspected
• Florida man charged with PPP fraud; got $7.2 million

full report here

Top Stories

DOJ enters deferred prosecution agreement with huge Colorado marketing firm that sold leads to scammers targeting older victims

• To pay $150 million; most to be refunded to victims
• Many leads used for sweepstakes/lottery fraud
• Sold information on 30 million people
• Charging document here 

DOJ announces criminal case, and arrest of Canadian man, in operation that took down international Netwalker ransomware operation

EU warns it is already seeing forged virus vaccination certificates

Competition Bureau in Canada settles with scam “free trial offer” company; to pay $15 million

National Consumers League releases top ten scams of 2020; sweepstakes/lotteries top the list, followed by romance scams

FTC settles with Amazon over failure to pay full tips to Amazon flex drivers; company to pay $61.7 million

Virus Benefit Theft

• Detroit: Three charged with fraud in unemployment benefits
• Virginia:  Man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; took in $2.5 million; bought himself a Cessna
• Massachusetts recover $252 million from fraudulent unemployment claims
• Nevada man charged with getting $1.9 million by PPP fraud
• Georgia: Six charged with PPP fraud; got $3 million
• More than a million cases of virus unemployment fraud in Illinois
• IRS provides advice for those who didn’t actually receive unemployment benefits due to ID theft, but who reported to have taxable income
• New York stops $5.5 billion in virus unemployment fraud
• West Virginia: Woman pleads guilty to fraud in virus unemployment benefits

Full report here

Top Stories

New York: Two men, one Australian and the other Chinese, extradited to the US and charged; made millions with text messages for horoscopes, trivia gossip, etc. and charged victims for receiving them without consent; took in at least $50 million; hundreds of thousands of victims; charges appeared often unnoticed on cell phone bills

US, Europol take down huge EMOTET botnet, loaded malware with email attachments

The New Yorker: Taking down a dark-web marketplace

New York Times: A visit to India to talk to a scammer about tech support scams located there

Virus benefit theft

• Illinois has stopped 350,000 fraudulent unemployment claims
• More than half of pandemic unemployment claims in Ohio may be fraudulent
• Washington State: Man pleads guilty to PPP and EIDL benefit fraud; took in $700,000
• Santa Barbara:  Three plead guilty to ID theft to get unemployment benefits
• London: three bank employees arrested for fraud in getting £6 million in “bounce back” virus business loans
• Los Angeles: Man pleads guilty to $1 million in fraud by getting PPP loans
• California admits $31 billion in virus unemployment benefits may have been stolen by scammers and overseas fraudsters
• Chicago man indicted; had brother who was a letter carrier steal federal virus benefit checks

BBB studies: They can all be found here. There are links below to several topic areas, and there are also studies on puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, and rental fraud

Full report here

Virus benefit theft

List of 50 DOJ PPP fraud cases; links to complaints and indictments

California charges nine prison inmates with fraud in getting unemployment benefits

FBI in Kansas gets search warrant for 60 year old woman that got $113,000 in virus unemployment benefits

California: DOJ settles first civil case of PPP fraud; retailer that is now bankrupt; must pay $100,000 fine

Texas man charged with PPP fraud; invented employees; took in $5 million

California: Bank of America sued over failing to stop unemployment fraud

Fraud in virus loan relief exceeds $360 million

Scammers get unemployment benefits using names of Ohio governor and his wife

Reviews and Recommendations:  the first episode of a new series called “Trafficked with Mariana Zeller” by National Geographic goes to Jamaica to interview lottery scammers and to Tel Aviv Israel to look at worldwide binary investment frauds.

Full report here

THANK YOU.  This issue begins the fifth year of the Baker Fraud Report.  Thanks for your support. I continue to shocked at the massive amount of fraud perpetrated on the public around the world.  And I’m always impressed with the great work being done by law enforcement agencies. Progress has been made, and if we keep working together we can continue to protect people and punish those who wreck lives with fraud.

Top Stories

New US law requires registration of shell corporations; registration to be handled by Treasury Department

World’s largest dark web marketplace taken down in international effort; Germany arrests Australian head of it; sold drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit cards, malware etc.; had 500,000 users

Many agencies have warned of an increase in scams involving virus vaccines; phishing emails, of course, as well online sales that take your money but don’t deliver.  And I would hardly be surprised to see sales of counterfeit vaccines.  See this from the FBI

Virus benefit theft

• California suspends 1.4 million unemployment accounts over fraud concerns
• Illinois Attorney General, FBI, and other agencies form working group to deal with virus unemployment fraud
• Chicago: Suburban business man charged with PPP and EIDL fraud; took in $420,000
• Eight million in the US will get their virus stimulus money on a prepaid card
• Oregon: Two charged with PPP and other virus relief fraud; made $10 million
• Louisiana has stopped 100,000 case of unemployment fraud
• Miami, Florida: Nurse charged with $475,000 in PPP and EIDL fraud
• Washington State hiring new fraud manager after $300 million lost to unemployment fraud

BBB studies: They can all be found here. There are links below to several topic areas, and there are also studies on puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, and rental fraud

Full report here