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South Africa court rules in favor of extraditing nine members of the Black Axe to the US over romance and BEC fraud

US files case to strip Nigerian man of US citizenship; was convicted head of stolen ID tax refund operation

FTC fraud data.  I’ve covered the annual fraud data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and also data from Australia. I expected the FTC to release its compilation of fraud data for 2024, but I’ve not seen that. Sources report that even though the FTC has done this every year since 2008, it is not doing a fraud data book this year.  Sad to see. Of course the FTC has its tableau site where one can find data, but it is not nearly as easy to get the big picture. In my view this is a loss for the public.

Reviews and recommendation” We went to see Operation Hail Mary, at a local movie theater — and it is just excellent.  Written by Andy Weir, author of The Martian, it is very much a crowd pleaser, with stellar reviews — and no politics at all.  Sure to be one of the best movies of the year. And its worth seeing it in a theater on a big screen.

Full report here

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Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) releases 2025 data

• 1 million complaints, all time high
• 20 billion in losses, up 4 billion from 2024
• Extortion of young men most reported fraud
• Largest scam type was crypto romance fraud;$7.2 billion in losses
• BEC fraud levels still increasing, as are romance frauds
• Government impersonation frauds almost doubled
• Lottery frauds increased significantly, losses almost double
• Tech support frauds up 25%

VERY GOOD AND IMPORTANT!  Podcast with Erin West and two journalists on why and how Cambodia became a haven for scam compounds and crypto romance fraud (43m) Part 1 of 2

Indiana adopts new law banning Bitcoin ATM’s

Full report here

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Australia releases 2024 scam data

• Losses reported increased slightly to $2.18 billion
• Complaints down 2.7%
• Top scam reported was investments, presumably crypto romance frauds; accounted for nearly half of losses
• Second were romance frauds, followed by BEC fraud and tech support fraud

WSJ says India suffering from “digital arrest” scams in which callers claim to be from banks or law enforcement and must turn over assets to keep them “safe,” “may spread” to the US  

But it already does hit the US, and as readers know, it is already a serious problem

DOJ disrupts four domains used by Iran for hacking and propaganda

Germany leads international effort that takes down 373,000 dark web sites selling child porn and supporting frauds; headed by man in China

White House suggests system for getting money back to cybercrime victims

St. Louis: DOJ and Wisconsin AG get summary judgment order against timeshare exit company that did presentations at venues around the country; must repay $140 million

Full Report here

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DOJ disrupts four domains used by Iran for hacking and propaganda

Germany leads international effort that takes down 373,000 dark web sites selling child porn and supporting frauds; headed by man in China

Full report here

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Consumer Federation of America issues new report stating that US consumers actually lose $119 billion to online frauds every year

San Francisco: Adobe to pay $150 million to settle charges for undisclosed subscription fees and difficulty canceling; $75 million penalty and $75 in discounts for customers

US, UK, and Canada team up to fight crypto romance fraud; Operation Atlantic

White House announces task force to target federal benefit fraud; Vice President to chair; FTC Chairman vice chair

Interpol releases global fraud report; increasing use of AI; crime in Africa funds terrorism; scam centers spread globally

Full report here

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President Trump signs new Executive Order on cybercrime; orders DOJ to make prosecutions a priority

•  Aspen Institute breaks this down

Google notifies 2.1 billion people to immediately change their passwords and set up multifactor authentication after surge in hacked email addresses used to steal money

Full report here

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New Interpol-coordinated operation in Africa against fraud leads to 651 arrests, many gangs taken down; 15 countries take part

FBI works with India to take down three call centers that called the US impersonating Social Security; group took in $50 million

National Consumers League releases data on top ten frauds from 2025; phishing/gov’t and banking impersonation; undelivered or counterfeit merchandise sold on line, and fake prizes/sweepstakes

Full report here

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Social Security IG warns or recent flood of spam emails claiming to have statements to download (I’ve received these myself)

Full report here

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Bob Sullivan’s AARP Fraud Podcast, the perfect storm, on sweepstakes fraud (includes segment interviewing me); (47 minutes)

New York: Two Nigerian men running a “black money” fraud shot and killed by scam victim

North Carolina: Three men (one from India?) get prison for assisting India-based tech support frauds; one created popups for computers, another connected phone number listed on those popups

Full report here

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Los Angeles: Chinese man gets 20 years prison for laundering $73 million for crypto romance frauds operating from SE Asia; cut off ankle monitor and fled; eight others in the ring also charged so far

Florida: Nigerian man who was extradited from Poland gets more than eight years prison for fraud worldwide fraud that sent personalized letters claiming victims had an inheritance; had to pay fees first; took in at least $6 million; eight others in gang already sentenced

Romance scam education:  Lots of organizations are educating about romance fraud in advance of Valentines Day.  Educating about this topic if really important, since once people have entered a “relationship” with a scammer it is nearly impossible to convince them that it is not real.

Full report here