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An in depth look at unpaid highway toll scams; WSJ Video (4.42); 1 billion lost over last three years to Chinese gangs; they get credit card numbers and use US helpers to buy goods, sometimes ship to China

Full report here

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An in depth look at unpaid highway toll scams; WSJ Video (4.42); 1 billion lost over last three years to Chinese gangs; they get credit card numbers and use US helpers to buy goods, sometimes ship to China

Is the term “scam” helpful?  We often use the term scam as a synonym for fraud.  “Fraud,” is, of course, a legal term.  The authors of a new article suggest that for several reasons use of the term scam is inapposite. They contend that use of the term “scam” downplays the seriousness of the conduct, and can suggest that it is somewhat the fault of the victim.  A thoughtful piece.

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FTC issues annual report to Congress on fraud against older people (60+)

• Losses from fraud for this group up from $600 million in 2020 to $2.4 billion last year
• Tech support, lottery and crypto romance top the list
• Older people less likely to be victims but lose more money

FBI’s IC3 warns of a big increase in complaints about bank impersonators who get log in information from victims and then steal from their online accounts; since January victims lost $262 million

Full report here

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CFPB to furlough most employees at the end of the year and transfer remaining cases to DOJ

Full report here

US forms scams task force to tackle organized crime and fraud from Southeast Asia

China says the $13 billion in Bitcoin that the US seized from indicted scam compound leader Chen Zhi was money stolen from Chinese investors in a bitcoin mining operation

Fraud-related industries:  The Southeast Asia scam compounds apparently began as online casinos.  What do we know about organized crime involvement.  Would there be many consumer complaints?  And what of the pornography industry?  We did a case while I was at the FTC against a porn company that asked for credit cards for a free trial, promising that credit cards would not be charged. We initially had only 16 complaints, but this grew into a huge multi-million dollar fraud, run by an organized crime family.  People just rarely complained.  I fear that these are areas of massive consumer fraud that we simply don’t hear about from victims.   One thing they seem to have in common is that they have found a way to get access to the credit card system.  Let me know if you can if my suspicions are correct – or not.

Full report here

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Meta made $16 billion from scam ads in 2024; 10% of its income; internally estimates that its platform is involved in one third of scams in the US

Myanmar military demolishes 150 building in scam compound on the Thailand border

Password for the security camera system at the Louvre was “louvre”

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Google says its new AI powered defenses block 10 billion scam calls and texts on Android each month

China sentences five to death for operating scam compounds

Europol takes down three large credit card fraud operations; 18 arrested; used stolen card numbers to launder fraud money; over €300 million in losses

Digital Arrest Scams.  There is much angst in India about this type of fraud. But from reading articles about this, I’m not sure there is agreement about just what this consists of. It does seem to begin with a call from a law enforcement impersonator, claiming that the victim has been involved and threatening arrest. Beyond that I’m not sure if this is actually a different pitch than the scams we see that tell victims that they need to move their money to the caller to keep it “safe.”  So it may be just a new term for a fraud that we already see. But I’m be interested in hearing from anyone that knows more than I.

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Meta takes down 8 million scam accounts on Facebook and Instagram

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Myanmar military arrests 2000 at scam compound call center

Canada set to set new national fraud strategy and to launch new financial crime agency

SpaceX says it has cut off 2500 Starlink devices at scam compounds in Myanmar

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India busts call center, arrest 16 who were calling victims in the US and Canada claiming they were to be arrested and needed to pay money

US attempts to seize $14 billion in bitcoin tied to Chinese-run crypto romance fraud ran from Cambodia

Brooklyn: US indicts head of same Cambodian crypto romance call center

WSJ: Scam texts for unpaid road tolls and phishing come from Chinese gangs; more than $1 billion worth; used for ghost tapping frauds used to buy physical goods by mules

Excellent webinar on the work and role of Nigerian Black Axe Gang (60 minutes)

Full report here