Top Stories

UK saw record numbers of romance frauds in 2020; trace back to Ghana and Nigeria; social media companies warned to cooperate or be regulated

Federal Communications Commission announces two new rules to fight robocalls

• First limits some calls to only three to home phones every 30 days
• Second makes VoIP companies monitor and block illegal calls
• Also issues Report to Congress on Caller ID spoofing

Sunburst hacking attack may have affected 250 organizations

DOJ gets $10 million criminal fine from Ticketmaster; hacked into system of competitor; plan was to choke off competing business

Chapter: How US authorities obtain evidence that is in other countries

Virus benefit theft

• Warning about scammers stealing more money from second round of stimulus checks in the US
• US loses $36 billion in virus unemployment benefits to scammers; often in Nigeria; use money mules to transfer money
• Arizona:  Home builder and his accountant plead guilty to PPP fraud
• FTC warns that $600 benefit checks are for residents of nursing homes, not the homes themselves

Full report here

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Canadian man extradited from Spain faces charges in New York

• Sent mailings to elderly and vulnerable pretending to French Psychics Marie DuVal and Patrick Guerin
• Had them send back money; usually between $5 and $50
• Took in $180 million
• Over 1 million US victims
• Scheme went on nearly 20 years
• US Postal Inspection Service effort
• Operation previously shut down by DOJ civil suit

India busts fifth call center in two weeks; this one focused on ripping off job seekers

NPR interview with Steve Baker on puppy scams

Virus benefit theft

• Oregon: Criminal charges in two separate cases where scammers got money for PPP and EIDL virus help
• Florida:  DOJ tries to recover PPP money from couple that used virus relief money to buy mansion; got $7.2 million

Nevada:  Man illegally in the US from England charged with fraud in getting unemployment benefits

Full report here

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Massachusetts:  Man already in prison for another fraud pleads guilty to money laundering

• Defendant ran a bitcoin business
• Romance and lottery fraud victims paid him cash of at last $630,000
• He then sent the bitcoin overseas to scammers after taking his cut

FTC does a close look at scams using gift cards to get money from victims; payment method used in 25% of scams; eBay gift cards most often used

FTC releases campaign and materials to fight gift card fraud

US seeing huge surge in fake package delivery messages; up 60% from last year; some messages contain ransomware

UK has seen huge increase in package delivery scams where people think email or text is about delivery; £240,000 lost in six months; victims pay small sum, then get a call supposedly from their bank, telling them their account is compromised and they must put all their money into a new “safe” account —  but it really goes to scammers

India arrests 54 in Dehli call center; called the US and other countries; claimed to be law enforcement; tactics used by social security scammers; took in $14 million

IRS warns people are getting text messages claiming virus relief money has been deposited into their bank account; phishing scam to get personal and bank information

Virus benefit theft

• California woman pleads guilty to ID theft in getting virus unemployment benefits; got $500,000
• North Carolina restaurant owner and son charged with PPP fraud; took in more than $1.7 million
• US seizes $8.4 million that bogus Florida ministry got with PPP fraud
• Montana man pleads guilty to PPP fraud
• North Carolina:  Man on parole for other crimes indicted over fraud in virus benefits
• Three in Arkansas plead guilty to PPP fraud
• Sacramento, California: DOJ indicts in two benefit fraud schemes; one from a women’s prison and the other by a former state unemployment employee who used the name of a sitting US Senator (Feinstein) to get money
• Phoenix, Arizona: Four charged with PPP fraud; tried to get $450,000; bought a new Mercedes
• Oklahoma: Two charged with PPP fraud; got nearly $100,000
• Massachusetts:  Two in Texas, including former employee of unemployment agency, arrested for fraud in getting MA unemployment benefits
• New Jersey:  Man arrested for PPP fraud; got $5.6 million; caught trying to flee to Pakistan
• Washington State loses $600 million in virus benefits to Nigerian scammers
• Criminal charges against Brooklyn, NY man over $1.9 million PPP fraud; used part of money to buy a $250,000 Bentley
• Nevada man arrested for $1.6 million fraud; got PPP and EIDL virus relief money
• Saratoga, New York: Criminal charges against man who used ID theft to get virus benefits
• New York:  Two owners of pharmacy chain indicted for bogus cancer drug treatments never ordered; got $30 million; took advantage of changes to Medicare during pandemic

Full report here

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Interpol announces Operation First Light in battle against phone and internet scammers

• Global effort
• More than 20,000 arrested
• $153 million seized
• Includes BEC and romance scams

Europol announces major effort against counterfeit medicine

• 27+ countries
• Seize €73 million worth of products
• 667 arrested
• 453 websites taken down

Virus benefit theft

• Maryland: Scammers use names of state governor, other top officials, to apply for unemployment benefits there
• New York: Three salon owners arrested for PPP fraud; tried to get $13 million
• Arkansas: Woman pleads guilty to PPP fraud; got $2 million
• Pasadena, California man arrested for fraud in unemployment benefits; used stolen money to buy a Maserati

FULL REPORT HERE

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Pet fraud in the UK has eight times the complaints as in 2019

Pittsburg: Cameroonian student who was living in Romania arrested and charged with pet scams against US victims

Virus benefit theft

• Virginia Beach man charged with PPP fraud; spent the money in Las Vegas
• Sunnyvale, California: Five arrested for fraud in getting virus unemployment
• Massachusetts recovers $242 million from fraud in virus unemployment benefits; four charged criminally
• California virus unemployment paid on Bank of America debit cards has cards hacked; crooks steal benefits
• California may have lost $2 billion to fraud in virus unemployment benefits
• New Jersey arrests man for theft of virus unemployment benefits
• Illinois: Two men charged with fraud for getting unemployment benefits while in prison
• California man pleads guilty to PPP fraud; took $655,000

Arkansas man gets two years prison for PPP fraud; sought $8 million

Full Report here

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BBB updates study on  pet frauds in the US and Canada

• Huge spike in BBB complaints this year; five fold increase from 2017
• Losses double from 2019
• Scammers now get money through Zelle, Cash App
• Very few prosecutions
• Use pandemic to explain why you can’t see in person
• Want money for “Covid compliant” crate for shipping

Europol and partners do major disruption effort against stolen credit cards; analyze 90,000 cards; stop fraud costing € 40 million

Texas: Owner of India call centers gets 20 years prison; impersonated IRS and US Immigration; responsible for $8.9 million in losses

Europol and 26 countries announce crack down on money mules; 4000 identified; 437 arrested; 227 of those were mule recruiters

US announces money mule crackdown; action taken against 2300 mules; at least 35 arrested; coordinated with European effort

Virus benefit theft

• California prison inmates take in hundreds of millions in bogus unemployment money, even those on death row 
• Canada sues four family members who worked for Ontario government and stole $11 million in virus relief money
• 11,000 must repay Pennsylvania unemployment benefits they were not entitled to
• Scotland over pays £15 million in virus benefits

Full report here

Virus benefit theft

• California: Two California brothers and their wives indicted for PPP fraud
• Houston, Texas:  Seven indicted for PPP fraud; at least 80 bogus loan applications
• Criminals using Zelle, Cash App, and Venmo to launder fraudulently obtained virus benefits
• Boston:  Nigerian pleads guilty for laundering money from virus unemployment fraud and romance scams
• Arizona thinks 3.5 million unemployment claims over virus are fraudulent
• New Jersey: Man arrested for PPP fraud; got nearly $2 million
• Illinois finds 212,000 cases of fraudulent unemployment claims

Full report here

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Interview with the man who wrote fraudulent sweepstakes mailing and why they worked

Why you should delete old online accounts you never use

DOJ indicts owners of India-based Voice over Internet phone provider that allowed tens of  millions of scam robocalls into the US

• Handled calls for IRS, Social Security, and loan scams
• Also injunction and court order against Florida server farm that worked with them
• Losses of at least $20 million

Virus benefit theft

• Tennessee: Woman gets 65 months prison for PPP fraud
• Detroit: Pizza company owner charged with PPP fraud; took in $931,000
• Georgia:  Six indicted for PPP fraud; took in $400,000
• 1/3 of virus unemployment applications in California may be fraudulent
• Florida high school basketball coach charged with $1 million PPP fraud
• Atlanta:  Woman charged with ID theft; got unemployment benefits from Arizona, Ohio, and Nevada

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

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Minnesota: Three indictments in massive case against fraud in magazine sales to the elderly

• 60 defendants in 14 states and 2 Canadian provinces
• Ran 20 years, took in at least $300 million
• At least 150,000 victims
• Charge call center owners, telemarketers, lead brokers

Error last week: Correct link to State of Scams Report

Virus benefit theft

• Article on how DOJ is addressing PPP fraud
• 27 arrested so far for theft of unemployment benefits in Los Angeles
• Michigan: Man arrested for fraud in unemployment benefits
• 3.4 million cases of fraud in unemployment in Arizona
• Washington State: Man charged with $1.1 million in PPP fraud
• Los Angeles: Man arrested who got $1.9 million from PPP fraud
• Rhode Island man pleads guilty; got $4.9 million in PPP fraud
• California shuts down 350,000 accounts for fraud in unemployment benefits
• Mississippi: 70 year old woman arrested for receiving fraudulent unemployment benefits from Washington State  Mule?

Full report here

NO FRAUD REPORT NEXT WEEK – ON VACATION

Top Stories

Minnesota: Three indictments in massive case against fraud in magazine sales to the elderly

• 60 defendants in 14 states and 2 Canadian provinces
• Ran 20 years, took in at least $300 million
• At least 150,000 victims
• Charge call center owners, telemarketers, lead brokers

Italy: 73 members of Nigerian Mafia group Vikings arrested for prostitution and drugs

Error last week: Correct link to State of Scams Report

Virus benefit theft

• Article on how DOJ is addressing PPP fraud
• 27 arrested so far for theft of unemployment benefits in Los Angeles
• Michigan: Man arrested for fraud in unemployment benefits
• 3.4 million cases of fraud in unemployment in Arizona
• Washington State: Man charged with $1.1 million in PPP fraud
• Los Angeles: Man arrested who got $1.9 million from PPP fraud
• Rhode Island man pleads guilty; got $4.9 million in PPP fraud
• California shuts down 350,000 accounts for fraud in unemployment benefits
• Mississippi: 70 year old woman arrested for receiving fraudulent unemployment benefits from Washington State  Mule

Full Report here