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.
News Nigeria: How Ray Hushpuppi became wealthy as a social influencer and how he laundered BEC funds
Singapore investigating 334 as money mules for BEC, romance, tech support and other scams
New FTC Chair Lina Khan names Chopra advisors Sam Levine acting head of consumer protection; Holly Vedova acting head of Bureau of Competition, and Erie Meyer as Chief Technologist Dems now have 3-2 majority
Chinese propaganda app being used by romance scammers there; government censors reports on problem
New Google Pay app now lets people send money to India and Singapore through Western Union. Are scammers close behind?
New fraud trend to watch out for: The US government is now paying for the funeral expenses of those who died from the virus. Not surprisingly, sources tell the Fraud Report that crooks are now applying for this money online and stealing funds. And if the crooks are not in the U.S. they doubtless need mules to first collect the money.
Consumer Survey on counterfeit goods
Review and recommendation: Unsettled, What climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters, by Steven E. Koonin, physicist at Caltech, Undersecretary of Science in the US Energy Department in the Obama Administration. Everyone agrees that there is more Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is tough to pierce the fog of politics and media to figure out what data we have about climate change, how reliable is it, what does that data mean? This quite readable book should help every informed citizen get a better grasp on key issues such as how much of climate change is natural, how much is manmade, and what are our options for dealing with this?
BBB Studies. Here are links to some of the study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards.
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Know a romance fraud victim who is still troubled after the scam?
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center releases report on fraud against older victims in 2020
Theft of log in information of 26 million for Amazon, Facebook, Apple
Why Buffalo, New York, is the hub of crooked debt collectors; ties to the mafia
BBB Studies. Here are links to some of the study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards.
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Better Business Bureau updates study on lottery/sweepstakes scams
Robocalls are down in the US over the last year
US seizes most of the ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline
Reviews and Recommendations: Broken Windows, by James Q. Wilson. The authors found that if one window is broken in a building the public concludes no one really cares, and the others are quickly shattered as well. The same idea holds true for Disney World; when litter is quickly picked up, people litter far less. This also applies to crime; where minor crime issues are addressed there is far less overall crime.
. Here are links to some of the study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards.
North Carolina AG proposes mandatory scam training for retail clerks
47 State AG’s support federal legislation to help fight fraud against seniors
WashPost: FTC looking at ways to address problems with free trial offer/subscription traps
Ransomware from Russia shuts down world’s largest meat producer in the US and Australia
Australia nabs five for laundering money for BEC and romance frauds
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China arrests 80 selling counterfeit vaccines; seizes shots; worked with Interpol
From last week but with a bad link, so repeating
Should cryptocurrency simply be banned so we can eliminate ransomware?
Bulgaria raids major binary option investment scam operations
Amazon says it blocked ten billion fake listings for counterfeit goods last year
FTC does in depth look at skyrocketing fraud offering investment in crypto currencies
FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint center reports complaints rose 70% last year
Full report here
Online scams increase 1500% in the UK; tied to Brexit and Covid
Ransomware shuts down largest US oil pipeline
Biden signs executive order on cybersecurity
Notes and thoughts: Has the time finally come to bring some real forces to bear on ransomware scams? Prosecutions have been exceedingly rare, and the harm continues to grow. I don’t know if you saw this last week. US forms new ransomware task force; sends 81 page report to White House. But I’d hope that a serious effort is in the works.
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Review and recommendation: I highly recommend the movie Created Equal, Clarence Thomas in his own words. From a childhood that began in poverty in Georgia, to Yale law school, the Missouri Attorney General’s office, and to his confirmation for the Supreme Court. It is a fascinating account of an intellectual and spiritual journey. Note that this movie has been pulled from Amazon streaming.
Studies I’ve done for BBB can all be found here. Here are links to some of the study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards.
Coronavirus
