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DOJ seizes $112 million in crypto from crypto investment scams
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.
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DOJ seizes $112 million in crypto from crypto investment scams
DOJ arrests founder of BreachForum, worlds largest hacking forum; takes down marketplace
UK’s Which? reports survey on mass marketing fraud there
Issue of the week, Recidivism by Fraudsters: A fraud expert and regular reader noted the story above, and suggested that convicted confidence crime criminals (for example, people who do mass marketing fraud and who work in boiler rooms, commit mail fraud, or engage in on-line frauds such as romance scams) have a high rate of re-arrest and continue to be involved in fraud crimes.
One study (by Weisburd & Waring, 2001) found that many criminals in street gangs tend to “age out” of criminal life, but that “white collar” criminals have long careers and possibly learn more tricks and stay in the scam game. This study also found that 62% of those who commit the crimes of mail, credit, or false claims are re-arrested for another crime — a high rate of recidivism.
I’ve surely seen convicted scammers return to their ways after being convicted, and romance scammers often point to the absence of prior arrests in seeking lighter sentences. So:
Let’s open this discussion up, and let me know what your experience is.
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FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center 2022 fraud report
France 24 TV: Mafia Africa: A dive into organized crime in France
BBB releases annual scam tracker risk report
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FTC releases 2022 data on fraud and ID theft
Full report here
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Six Nigerians indicted for inheritance fraud
Three lived in Spain; three in the UK
One has been extradited from the UK
Contacted victims telling them of big inheritance
But needed to pay “taxes” and other fees
Used other victims as mules
Chainalysis releases 2022 Crypto Fraud Report
Ponzi schemes up sharply in 2022; one quarter of them involve crypto; losses of $5.3 billion
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FTC releases data on romance scam complaint trends
Thought of the week — Emotional damage by Fraud A couple of days ago a friend reminded me again of the real harm scammers inflict. It is easy to focus on the money lost, trends, and what is new. But the reality is that too much of the time people suffer trust in themselves, depression, and especially with romance frauds, suicide is not at all uncommon.
Full report here
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Scamadviser reports results of worldwide survey of online daters about romance scams
BBB Studies. Here are links to the study topics of my studies: puppy fraud, romance fraud; BEC fraud, sweepstakes/lottery fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud, gift cards, job scams, and online shopping fraud.