Baker Fraud Report

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

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

Top Stories

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

Top Stories

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

Top Stories

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

Top Stories

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