tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24196826661861767172024-03-13T22:26:50.935-07:00scam 419, 419 Fraud, Scam Emails, Money Scam, Email Spam , Scam Videos, Scam NewsScam 419, everything you need to know about the 419 Fraud,Anti Scammer letters pages, forum, anti-scammer hints and tips.Pissing off Nigerian 419 Scammers one at a time.Infodrive Global Solutionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11415966221514317983noreply@blogger.comBlogger183125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-47675145398376573682011-04-15T11:12:00.000-07:002011-04-15T11:15:11.906-07:00Helena woman loses $1K in online scam<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">A Helena woman is out $1,000 after being caught in an <b>online romance scam</b>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">According to police, the woman thought she was doing a favor for a man she had been communicating with online.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">However, that favor turned into a wire <b>fraud scam</b>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">When all was said and done, the woman had transferred a $1,000 for delivery charges through Western Union, only to find out that she would be responsible for wiring money from someone else's credit card.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Lt. Corey Livesay, an investigator for the Helena Police Department, explained, "In this one, they think that they are wiring it to a place in New Jersey, when in fact this money is being picked up by a person in Nigeria. And when they discover this they feel embarrassed, and they feel completely taken advantage of, which they have been. And in a lot of these instances they are going to be the ones ultimately responsible because the individuals in another country fall outside a lot of the jurisdictional boundaries where we can hold them accountable."</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Livesay says never wire money to people you don't know for any reason.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Learn more about this type of online scam at RomanceScam.com, including this overview:</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">You or someone you know may be dating this person online right now. However, be warned. Things aren't what they appear to be. In reality you're talking to a criminal sitting in a cybercafe with a well rehearsed script he's used many times before. He's hunting through chat rooms, dating sites and social networking sites searching for victims, looking to cash in on romance. If you are over 40, recently divorced, a widow, elderly or disabled then all the better in his eyes. Scammers are adept at psychological profiling, and use any weakness they find to their advantage.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">It's the newest evolution of the Nigerian advance fee (419) scam. Instead of sending spam letters that promise millions for your assistance, these scammers are targeting single men and women who are searching for love online.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">They use psychological tricks to lure their victims in, use poetry and even gifts to get them under their spell, then once you are there, will try to reach for your wallet, all the time declaring their "undying love" for you. The scam may take the form of asking you to cash a cheque for them through your bank account because they are "out of the country" and unable to cash it themselves, or they may come right out and ask you to send money to help them out of a fabricated "financial difficulty" they claim to be experiencing.</span></div><br />
<a href="http://www.kxlh.com/news/helena-woman-loses-1k-in-online-scam/" rel="nofollow">Source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-13289500752427291482011-04-13T08:31:00.000-07:002011-04-13T08:33:12.003-07:00Email Security Firm eleven Reports Spam Levels Decreased 36 Percent in March<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Email security provider eleven (www.eleven.de) announced on Wednesday that overall <b>scam 419</b> levels in March were <b>36 percen</b>t below scam levels in the previous month. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">The eleven email security report found that the shutdown of Rustock botnet by US authorities with Microsoft on March 16, 2011, led to the reduction in<b> spam</b> levels. Within 24 hours of the shutdown, spam levels fell by 60 percent.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a alt="scam report" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55i1W9YXCfc/TaXBYy7L3bI/AAAAAAAAAU4/t-481KHzZGA/s1600/scam-report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="scam report"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55i1W9YXCfc/TaXBYy7L3bI/AAAAAAAAAU4/t-481KHzZGA/s400/scam-report.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Though <i>scam</i> saw a decrease in March, the level of malware sent via email increased significantly. According to eleven, the amount of malware-infected emails doubled in March compared to the previous month. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Apparently, this is an expected "reaction to botnet takedowns, where <b><i>spammers </i></b>attempt to make up for lost infrastructures by sending mass quantities of Trojans." According to eleven, Trojans were primarily camouflaged as notifications from courier services. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">eleven says the decline in spam is the first time that it had fallen below the 90 percent mark since 2009. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">The report says that the US is the top third spam source country, with India in the lead and Russia in second place.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">February and March 2011 saw an increase in targeted phishing campaigns against banking customers. Current events were also used for deceptive objects including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan where spammers set up fraudulent donation sites.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">The complete report can be found on the eleven website.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;">Last month, eleven released its annual survey which found over half of German IT managers say spam levels have considerably increased over the past year.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia", "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/041311_Email_Security_Firm_eleven_Reports_Spam_Levels_Decreased_36_Percent_in_March">Ref</a> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-77708939192682543942010-11-11T21:19:00.000-08:002010-11-11T21:19:46.976-08:00Internet scam continues to be a major issue, as 10% of the online UK populations are being victim<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The problem of <b>online fraud</b> has led to eight per cent of victims believing that they will never receive all of their money back.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The figure has doubled over the last 18 months, research by VeriSign Authentication, now part of Symantec, found that British adults are losing almost twice as much money to online fraud in comparison with six months ago.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Although the number of fraud victims remained stable, with ten per cent of the online UK population suffering at the hands of cyber criminals in the last 12 months, the average amount lost to online fraud now stands at £697 per victim, compared with an average of £352 in March 2010.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">“Some companies do insurance against fraud and identity theft but you need to read the small print. But they are looking for added credit facilities and they know that the customers are willing to pay for it.<br />
<br />
<b>Research Online Fraud </b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The research in the online fraud barometer also found that the number of people claiming only to shop from ‘safe sites' has fallen from 82 per cent to 80 per cent in the last six months.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Cyber criminal activity has evolved and as a result the monetary attraction for compromising a computer to steal banking details has also evolved with this. We're now seeing malicious emails and rogue or compromised websites become more difficult for the average consumer to identity.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>Online Shopping </b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">“Online shopping (e-commerce) has become the weak link in the chain, which may explain the increased fraud in this area. Banks absolutely have a role to play in educating customers to be alert to the risks and working with authentic merchants to provide a convenient and secure online shopping customer experience. Educating consumers of the risks and providing the appropriate tools to mitigate against compromised sites is imperative.”</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-55724868277368903482010-11-09T21:07:00.000-08:002010-11-09T21:07:24.145-08:00Cyber Monday<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><i><b>Cyber Monday</b></i> is coming up. That's when online retailers offer specials the Monday after Thanksgiving. 100 million shoppers took part last year. But as people get more comfortable buying online, it's important not to let your guard down against fraud. </div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Every year, millions of dollars are lost through online shopping fraud. The scams range from fake stores selling bogus merchandise you never receive to getting something different from what you ordered to having your personal information compromised.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"You want to verify a website is secure when you do purchases. That's usually what that lock at the bottom or the https within the browser section of the Internet. You want to make sure that's there before you give your personal information," Jim David of the Better Business Bureau said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Look for HTTPS at the beginning of the URL. This indicates information you share is being encrypted.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Learn more about how your web browser can protect you from unsecure websites:</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">• Internet Explorer 8 Safety Features</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">• Firefox Phishing & Malware Protection</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">• Apple Safari Security & Privacy Features</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">• Google Chrome Privacy & Security Settings</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-33143261262785559962010-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:002010-11-08T20:37:29.790-08:00How to mark a scam 419<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Every day I get at least three different banks emailing me telling me that there has been a change to my <b>online banking details </b>– so I should just visit this web page or download that document.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">It makes a change to the banks telling me that their security systems have been updated or someone has withdrawn money from my account, but not much of one. Particularly seen as these generally aren’t the bunch I actually bank with.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php">419 scammers</a> are also fairly present in this – when they aren’t telling you they want to smuggle money out of their country they are congratulating you for winning a contest you never actually entered.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">I know we laugh at herbalists who sell <b>“penis cream”</b> but some of this <b>spam</b> is the exact same stuff – being marketed by Eastern Europeans to Americans. Somehow we get caught in the crossfire.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Which brings me to the following: Never trust an unexpected email or SMS. <i>Scammers</i> want your banking details, and <i>spammers</i> want to verify your email address. If you didn’t know you were going to get it, and it wants you to do something, don’t.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-71207773627789889112010-11-03T21:21:00.000-07:002010-11-03T21:21:45.681-07:00Anchorage con victims track down accused scammer<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">An Anchorage man scammed into buying phony concert tickets on Craigslist decided he wanted to do more than file a police report.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Police say he advertised and found two other victims, and together they tracked down a suspect who has been arrested on forgery and theft charges.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"You better be careful who you defraud using the Internet," said Lt. Dave Parker, "because they might be more Internet savvy than you are."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The original victim paid $50 for a ticket last month to a concert by the band Daughtry. The ticket was bogus, Parker said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The man went back to Craigslist, an online site offering free classified advertising, seeking others who had been ripped off. Two men responded.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Police arrested 21-year-old Shanda Barlow on Oct. 21.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">She's charged with three counts of forgery and three counts of theft by deception. She also had an outstanding warrant for $10,000, putting her bail at $15,000. She was not in custody Wednesday. A message left with the public defender's office was not immediately returned.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Police say there may be additional victims and are asking them to call investigators.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-32442148259017197642010-11-02T22:09:00.000-07:002010-11-02T22:13:19.213-07:00Internet users recommend to stay watchful in order to avoid scammers<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The Western Cape Police’s Commercial Crimes Unit on Tuesday said far too many people are still being duped by <i>internet scams</i>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The Hawks warned criminals are continuously adjusting their modus operandi, making it difficult for unsuspecting consumers to stay a step ahead of con artists.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Police have reminded members of the public they need to be more vigilant when sharing personal information.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The police’s Jerome Hardenberg said the type of <b><a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/">fraud</a> </b>involving cloned bank cards and <b>internet banking fraud</b> is expected to rise ahead of the festive season.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Police have arrested several suspects since the start of the year. On Monday two Chinese nationals were apprehended in Kraaifontein for being in possession of equipment used to produce cloned bank cards.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Officers hope to make more arrests in the coming month.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-87075390911478865452010-11-01T21:18:00.000-07:002010-11-01T21:18:10.948-07:00Using e- business potential to reduce Internet fraud in Nigeria<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The need to expose <b>Nigerians </b>to legitimate job opportunities on Internet has been stressed by Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) at its maiden exhibition of business proposals on Internet for Jobs (I4J) Initiative in Lagos.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The foremost Internet body in the country last Friday commenced its search for Nigerians, mostly youths, who possessed e-business concepts. It expressed its readiness to extend N1 million grant to each of the shortlisted candidates.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Event Sponsor </span></b></i></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The event was sponsored by Multi-Links. NIG said with the promotion of e- business and e-government, I4J aims at creating jobs for software programmers, webmasters, database managers, marketers and others in related fields and in addition to growing the business of Internet Service Providers, e-payment companies, cybercafés among others, who are employers of Information Technology (IT) personnel.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The former ATCON and NIG president argued that there is no need for anyone to be involved in Internet fraud. “Those who created Google and Yahoo are youths. Nigerians have what its takes to beat their counterparts to innovation anywhere in the world.”</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Having assessed the quality of presentations at the event, Banjo advised youths to sharpen their ICT skills to meet the innovative standard that can lure investors to support them. The Chief Executive of Disk Engineering Communications, who doubles at the chairman of e-Business arm of NIG noted that Nigerians have the potentials to rule the world in ICT and hereby tasked the youth on thoroughness. </div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">“This event is not about coming here to listen to tales from people, who believe we out to provide them with net to catch fish at the lagoon. We are concerned about the need to encourage those who have ideals and are propelled to do legitimate business on net. For those who want to play the oratory ostrich, they may as well look elsewhere. Certainly this is a worthy cause and we are for it” Banjo said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-54190700666193963772010-10-31T22:15:00.000-07:002010-10-31T22:18:11.878-07:00Cal Fire warns residents about phone solicitation con<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is warning residents of the Bay Area to be wary of a <b>telephone scam </b>in which people are asked to donate money for firefighter training, a Cal Fire representative said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The suspected <b>scammer</b> solicited one Santa Clara County resident for an undisclosed sum of money that would supposedly fund Cal Fire training, spokesman Daniel Berlant said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">In reality, the training of the state agency's firefighters is funded through their budget, Berlant said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"We would never call anybody soliciting money," Berlant said. "That's what our taxpayer dollars go toward paying for, training our firefighters."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The resident thought the call was suspicious, Berlant said, so he did not give the caller any money and reported the <b>scam</b> to Cal Fire. He was unable to get the scammer's phone number or any descriptive information, Berlant said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"Obviously, we hope there aren't other people out there who have been scammed by this suspect," Berlant said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">A similar scam was perpetrated in Mendocino County several years ago, Berlant said. As in this instance, the would-be victim felt the call was a fraud and did not give any money to the caller, Berlant said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Though the Mendocino County <b><i>scam</i></b> artist was never caught, no scam calls were reported to Cal Fire after the public was alerted to the crime, Berlant said.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16477853?nclick_check=1" rel="nofollow">Source</a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-85661697440532149192010-10-28T23:26:00.000-07:002010-10-28T23:26:21.178-07:00miiCard declares Strategic Relationship with Yodlee to distribute Digital Passports<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>Banking innovation</b> and the fight against <b>Internet fraud</b> moves forward today with digital identity company miiCard's announcement of a strategic development and distribution relationship with Yodlee, Inc., the leading provider of online and mobile personal finance management (PFM) solutions.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>miiCard</b>, a patent pending, global, digital identity solution, is soft launching to the financial services industry in Amsterdam, at Sibos, October 28th. miiCard's aim is to eradicate the final barrier to global trade in financial service products - the often cumbersome and always time consuming need for offline proof of identity before a financial product can be purchased.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Powered by Yodlee, the miiCard <b>Digital Passport</b> enables consumers to prove "they are who they say they are" online, in real-time; enabling them to buy financial products completely online for the first time, in a fashion that meets Anti-Money Laundering laws, Know Your Customer regulations and the Proceeds of Crime Act standards.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Making the announcement at Sibos where miiCard was invited by SWIFT to present at the Innotribe Challenge, James Varga, miiCard's Founder explains: "<b>Online authentication</b> has become the holy grail for all financial institutions. Proving online identity is the final barrier to global trade in financial services products; and while consumers fall victim to fraud every day, it is critical that we as an industry address the issue and offer a solution fast, and that's what miiCard, working with Yodlee, intends to do."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-58284974042017652312010-10-28T04:35:00.000-07:002010-10-28T04:36:05.779-07:00New Zealanders have been targeted by Phone scammers<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>New Zealanders</b> being rung from overseas are being duped into allowing access to their computers and bank accounts.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>scammer</b></a> cold-calls the victim, claiming to be from an IT support help desk, plants malware in the computer through the phoneline and offers to fix it for a fee paid by <i>credit card </i>over the phone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TMlfkq8dSgI/AAAAAAAAAUM/XxsQwJS9r0k/s1600/img_phone_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TMlfkq8dSgI/AAAAAAAAAUM/XxsQwJS9r0k/s320/img_phone_03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Christchurch mum Claire Kelly's computer was hacked by a man who rang up offering to fix something on it.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"They said it was quite a major problem, a new problem, and that a lot of <b>anti-virus software</b> people had on their computers was not detecting this virus," Kelly told ONE News.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">But she said when she followed the virtual PC doctor's advice, things got weird.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"Windows just kept popping up and the mouse kept moving around and I had this absolute sick feeling in my stomach."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">NetSafe believes the <b>scammers </b>are increasing the intensity of the scam, with six foreign calls reported in New Zealand yesterday. Australia has had a tenfold increase in the past two months.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-4218300615120138912010-10-26T22:56:00.000-07:002010-10-26T22:56:56.118-07:00Listen To A Phone Scammer At Work<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">$20 Million Fake Documented in Rarely Heard Recordings</span></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The foreign-based <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php">scammer</a> behind one of the most relentless <b>telemarketing frauds</b> in recent years have stolen more than $20 million from mostly elderly Americans by playing on their hopes and fears, as evidenced in <b>audio recordings</b> of their calls obtained exclusively by ABC News.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TMe_CdVgBxI/AAAAAAAAAUE/DHYkKSpSVaQ/s1600/phone-scam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Phone scam"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TMe_CdVgBxI/AAAAAAAAAUE/DHYkKSpSVaQ/s1600/phone-scam.jpg" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">During the hours of recordings, one elderly victim repeatedly pleads with a litany of callers who falsely claim to be from a sweepstakes company in Las Vegas, from the insurance company Lloyds of London, and from such government agencies as the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, and the <b>Federal Trade Commission</b>. The scammer repeatedly asks her to send more money to pay taxes and fees, and promises a windfall is on its way.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"I don't have the money," she says. "I told you, I've taken it all out of my bank account."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/listen-phone-scammer-work/story?id=11965400" rel="nofollow">Source </a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-54780689111638431532010-10-25T21:59:00.000-07:002010-10-25T22:00:22.406-07:00Security debate grows over Internet voting<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">State efforts to let <b>military and overseas voters</b> cast ballots using the Internet have set off warnings from computer security experts that elections could be subject to <b>cyberattacks</b>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The debate intensified after the District of Columbia tested an <i>Internet voting system </i>for possible use next month and invited computer scientists to try hacking into it. They did, without much trouble.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>Arizona and West Virginia </b>will allow military and overseas voters to use the Internet on Nov. 2 with systems the states claim are safe. More than 20 other states let those voters use e-mail, which some election security experts say is just as vulnerable. <b>Congress</b> has asked the Pentagon and the states to conduct pilot projects.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/evoting/2010-10-26-internetvote26_ST_N.htm" rel="nofollow">Source</a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-74719329207932870832010-10-25T05:58:00.000-07:002010-10-25T05:58:39.588-07:00Nationwide video launched for prevention of online fraud<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">People who are worried about becoming victims of <a href="http://scam419.blogspot.com/"><i>fraud </i></a>are being helped by a new series of videos being launched by Nationwide Building Society.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>Card</b> and <b>online banking fraud</b> are estimated to cost over £500 million every year1 across the industry and Nationwide, which is at the forefront of initiatives to protect consumers from the risk of financial crime, has launched three online videos explaining how individuals can safeguard themselves against fraud.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The videos show how <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>fraudsters</b></a> try to get access to people's money and bank accounts and what they can do to prevent this.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">There are videos and articles on:</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">- Card fraud with tips on protecting yourself if taking money out of a cash machine or using your card in a shop or restaurant</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">- Online banking fraud showing the clever sites fraudsters set up to try to trick consumers into releasing their bank account details</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">- <b>Identity theft</b> showing how fraudsters can steal someone's identity and the impact this could have.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.myintroducer.com/view.asp?ID=5429" rel="nofollow">source </a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-34886126187190679682010-10-22T00:31:00.000-07:002010-10-22T00:31:50.346-07:00Police nab cheque fraudster at Port Kembla<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">A man accused of buying items bought over the internet with fake bank cheques in Sydney and regional New South Wales is to face the Wollongong Local Court today.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The 40-year-old was arrested at Port Kembla yesterday after Police searched a unit on Wentworth Street and a house on Poplar Avenue at Albion Park Rail.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">He is facing 30 fraud charges for paying for cars, jewellery and cameras with fraudulent cheques.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The offences were committed over the past six months in the Sydney metropolitan area, the Blue Mountains and Orange.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Chief Inspector Mark Lavis says Police are expecting that the number of charges will rise.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"And they would be asking anyone who suspects they might have been a victim of a similar fraud to contact the Lake Illawarra Detectives," Chied Inspector Lavis said.</div><br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/22/3045321.htm?site=illawarra&section=news" rel="nofollow">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-45295443714705122362010-10-21T03:13:00.000-07:002010-10-21T03:13:51.304-07:00Denver charged for identity-theft and child- porn<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Ralph Landers, 43, of Denver was sentenced to 16½ years in federal prison this week after pleading guilty to possession of <b>child pornography</b>, <b>identity theft</b>, <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/"><b>fraud</b></a> and other charges.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Landers was ordered to repay almost $304,000 he admitted defrauding banks of and also received eight years of supervised probation upon release, according to the Justice Department.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Authorities became aware of Landers in March 2008, when he attempted to buy child pornography over the Internet using a fake credit card, according to court documents.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Investigators eventually learned Landers had tapped 114 bank and credit-card accounts using <i>stolen identities</i> and <b>commercial mailboxes</b> he had rented. He was indicted last year and pleaded guilty in February.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Landers was arrested after <b>U.S. Postal Service</b> inspectors arranged the delivery of an order for child pornography to a post-office box he had rented.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_16392195" rel="nofollow">source</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-20143858603856299812010-10-19T23:05:00.000-07:002010-10-19T23:05:32.800-07:00Developing Nigeria's '419' email scammers<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Lagos, Nigeria -- The most foolish argument I've heard from the never-ending efforts to discourage young Nigerians from cybercrime is that money isn't everything.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Well, lack isn't everything either. There's also the equally common argument about integrity being worthier than wealth, as if a dichotomy must always exist between the two.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">No wonder the many <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>419 scammers</b></a> -- for whom the specter of a destitute and unfulfilled future is a daily terror -- don't appear ready to budge from their fraudulent ways.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">And so it was with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism that I attended an '<b>Alternatives to Cybercrime'</b> event organized by Microsoft and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN). What new doctrine did the anti-cybercrime brigade have to preach this time?</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">My <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/419-scam.html"><b>419 scams</b></a>-themed novel had earned me an invitation to address the audience of university and secondary school students. Another guest speaker was Adeolu Akinyemi, a young man who runs Street Skills, an organization that rehabilitates <i>419 scammers.</i> The more he spoke, the more I found myself sitting straighter in my chair with rapt attention.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">No, he doesn't warn the <b>fraudsters</b> against the ills of materialism or notify them that money doesn't buy happiness. That grand sermon may wait until after they can afford three square meals a day.</div><br />
<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/10/12/nigeria.email.scams/" rel="nofollow"><b>Source</b></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-40303783812320464582010-10-18T23:00:00.000-07:002010-10-18T23:00:53.746-07:00A LADY arrested on charges of money laundering scam<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">A LADY in Honley is being hunted by the <b>FBI</b>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">It can only be a matter of time before she is arrested on charges of <b>money laundering and terrorism</b>, and she seems such a nice young woman, too. What goes on behind the curtains of suburbia, eh?</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Mind you, I can’t see Carol losing much sleep about the threat. It’s the latest twist in one of those <b>emails</b> from confidence tricksters.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">It used to be called the Nigerian 419 scam. A letter or email suggests the recipient has won or been left a vast sum of money. All they have to do to have it deposited into their bank account, is to provide bank details and, maybe, a few quid up front to facilitate the transfer.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">This latest email purports to come from Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">“This is to inform you that the sum of <b>$10 million</b> was transferred from the <b>Central Bank of Nigeria</b> to the Bank of America bearing your name as the beneficiary.”</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The FBI had, says Mueller, placed the funds on hold until Carol obtains a diplomatic immunity seal of transfer certificate, to prove she is not a terrorist or involved in money laundering.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">I was actually caught money laundering myself, once. It happened in America when I left a roll of dollars in my shorts pocket by mistake when Maria did the wash. We had to peg them out in the sun to dry. I wasn’t arrested, though. Probably wasn’t worth it for 50 quid.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">But in Carol’s case they threaten arrest within 72 hours if she doesn’t supply the details necessary to obtain that official sounding certificate, and she can forget all about that $10 million.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Actually, she forgot about the $10 million when she passed the email onto me. You have been warned. If you get one, have a laugh. And then bin it.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.examiner.co.uk/views-and-blogs/columnists/2010/10/18/denis-beware-of-the-fbi-scam-86081-27490471/" rel="me nofollow">source</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-36684555639142229162010-10-17T23:29:00.000-07:002010-10-17T23:29:14.905-07:00Facebook Scammer’s Verdict uphold by Court of Canadian<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>scammer</b></a> who was ordered to pay <b>Facebook </b>over <b>$800 million</b> in damages two years ago refused to pay and let the case go to his local court in Quebec, Canada for enforcement. That court ruled yesterday that Adam Guerbuez must pay the $873 million that was awarded to the social networking site after they sued him for sending over <b>4 million</b> <b>scam messages </b>to their users. The messages hawked male enhancement products. Facebook also accused Guerbuez of hacking into user accounts and posting explicit messages hawking the products on user’s walls. It’s not clear if this was done through malicious links sent in spam messages or by another method.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Guerbuez insists he is not a <b>scammer</b> and has done nothing wrong, saying if people don’t want a particular <b>email</b>, they should use their delete key. It doesn’t look like the court ruling will be of much help to Facebook as <b>Guerbuez</b> has filed for bankruptcy and listed the site as one of his creditors-a common tactic used by <i>scammers</i> who have had huge judgments levied against them.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">His lawyer said the judgment was excessive and that his client had no choice but to file bankruptcy because there is no way he could ever pay such a huge amount, which equals <b>$1 billion in Canadian funds.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Guerbuez says he is a highly skilled internet marketer and says the whole Facebook issue has helped him gain attention and helped his business. He also claims to have both a book deal and a movie in the works.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.allspammedup.com/2010/10/canadian-court-upholds-facebook-spammers-verdict/" rel="no follow">Source</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-28818081391049549182010-10-15T14:15:00.000-07:002010-10-15T14:16:31.892-07:00Dozens charged with largest Medicare scam ever<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">NEW YORK – A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of <b>$163 million</b>, the largest <b>fraud </b>by one criminal enterprise in the program's history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The scheme's scope and sophistication "puts the traditional Mafia to shame," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. "They ran a veritable fraud franchise."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLjEq6wV8lI/AAAAAAAAAUA/I8Pmo3magFY/s1600/scammer-uk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLjEq6wV8lI/AAAAAAAAAUA/I8Pmo3magFY/s1600/scammer-uk.jpg" /></a></div></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was "completely notional," Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, said in a statement. "The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a "vor," prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Bharara said it was the first time a vor — "the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather" — had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders — Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn — were named in an indictment charging racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The indictment accused Terdjanian and others of hatching other schemes involving stolen credit cards, untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit Viagra. It also alleges that during a meeting last year at a Brighton Beach restaurant, Terdjanian pulled a knife on someone who owed him money "and threatened to disembowel the individual if the debt was not paid."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">A judge jailed Terdjanian without bail on Wednesday at a brief hearing. Afterward, his attorney said his client denies the charges.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics' banks accounts, investigators said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Most of the defendants "were Armenian nationals or immigrants and many maintained substantial ties to Armenia" and criminals there, the indictment said. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Prosecutors were seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101014/ap_on_bi_ge/us_medicare_fraud_arrests" rel="nofollow">source</a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-26407106916130604252010-10-14T23:01:00.000-07:002010-10-18T23:01:51.544-07:00Kristina Svechinskaya world’s sexiest computer scammer to appear in court<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">She recognized the ‘<b>world’s sexiest computer hacker’</b>, Kristina Svechinskaya was arrested in New York earlier this month, accused of being a part of an <b>internet fraud </b>ring alleged to have used malware and trojan viruses to steal <b>$35 million</b> from <b>US bank accounts.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">It is alleged that the Russian brunette, 21, used fake passports to open a series of accounts flooded with cash plundered from online bank customers.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The racket is also believed to have siphoned £6million from UK victims.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a alt="Kristina Svechinskaya" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLftam7ChAI/AAAAAAAAAT8/DTHhiVwT29s/s1600/Kristina-Svechinskaya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Kristina Svechinskaya"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLftam7ChAI/AAAAAAAAAT8/DTHhiVwT29s/s320/Kristina-Svechinskaya.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Svechinskaya was among four New York students accused of assisting the plot after investigators held 37 Eastern European suspects said to have been involved.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><b>"Money mules"</b> like Svechinskaya are said to have taken a ten per cent cut of the profits.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Svechinskaya faces up to 40 years behind bars for conspiracy to commit <i><b>bank <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/">scam</a></b></i> and false use of a passport and is due to reappear in court tomorrow.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/10/14/world-s-sexiest-computer-hacker-kristina-svechinskaya-to-appear-in-court-in-connection-with-multi-million-dollar-internet-fraud-scam-115875-22633825/" rel="nofollow">source</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-33479002443660292462010-10-13T22:52:00.000-07:002010-10-13T22:59:09.336-07:00Warning issued by BG Police against Phone Scam<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">BOWLING GREEN -- Bowling green police are warning residents of a phone scam. On Monday several residents received <b>phone calls</b> asking for donations to help disadvantaged children or to fund the program Shop with a Cop.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The caller said he was with the BGPD. Authorities say this is a <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/"><b>scam</b></a> and do not give them any money or your personal information.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Bowling Green police never solicits donations.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">If you've been contacted by this <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>scammer</b></a> or know anything about the <i><b>scam call</b></i> BG police at 419 -352-2571 or Wood County CrimeStoppers at (419) 352-0077 or (800) 54-CRIME.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
<b><a href="http://www.toledoonthemove.com/news/story.aspx?id=525539">source </a></b></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-78010326958299756212010-10-12T23:10:00.000-07:002010-10-18T23:02:10.827-07:00Scammer targets Cape Coral man by sending Lottery scam twice<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">It appears a <b>common scam</b> is making its return to Southwest Florida.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">A Cape Coral man received two letters in the past week claiming he was a big winner, only he didn't fall for it.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"Never knew I was that lucky, hit it twice in four days," said Donald Stevens. "Different amounts. One's 4950, the other's 4498."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Only Stevens knew better.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"There's a lot of <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.co/"><b>scams</b></a> out there, and that's exactly what this is."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Two letters with Canadian postmarks and no return address, both claiming Stevens had won a sweepstakes."'Enclosed is a check which you can use to pay the applicable government service tax,'" read the instructions in one of the letters.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Each letter used the name of a real company known in the U.S., but claimed to be based out of Canada or England. Each letter asked Stevens to deposit a check and wire back the funds as *insurance* for his supposedly even bigger winnings.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"I know darn right well, the minute I cash this check, I'm going to be minus that amount of money in my account."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Stevens says he can understand how the realistic-looking checks can be tempting.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">But crime prevention officers warn you're on the hook if you fall for it.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">While the <i>scam</i> isn't new, Stevens worries others may not be as quick to catch it.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">"There's some older people out there and maybe even young ones who don't realize there are these types of <a href="http://scam419.blogspot.com/"><i>scams </i></a>going on today, Stevens said. "I don't want to see anybody else taken advantage of."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2010-10-12/Lottery-scam-targets-Cape-Coral-man-twice" rel="nofollow">source</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-30591530748313150702010-10-11T23:03:00.000-07:002010-10-11T23:03:07.024-07:00Online Scammers recognized by the Superior Police in the Northland<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/419-scam.html"><b>Scams</b></a> recognized by the Superior Police Department Monday, are very similar to those in recent months in the Northland. </div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Local businesses like Weichert Realtors told Eyewitness News <b>scammers</b> copy official listings on realty websites, and post them to Craigslist and other marketplace websites. Weichert Realtors said the <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php"><b>scammers</b></a> claim to own the properties, and put them online to be rented out.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Former Superior homeowner Bob LaBounty told us he put his home up for sale earlier this year through Weichert Realtors. He told us it wasn't long before people looking to rent out his home, came knocking on his door.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Weichert Realtor's licensed assistant Jessie Pearson said "[LaBounty] got a knock on the door and some people were there to take a look at the house. They said they saw it on Craigslist for rent and that the owner had said he wasn't going to be there, but that he would be in Africa."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Pearson told us people some potential renters were told they would get the keys for the property, if they sent a payment first.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Pearson said "[<b>the scammer</b>] said ignore the for sale sign in the yard. He said it was his property and said if they liked it they would just send him the money and he would send them the keys in return."</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">This isn't the first time <a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/"><b>online scams</b></a> have been an issue in the Northland. According to the Superior Police Department, numerous complaints of <i>online scams</i> have popped up in recent days. Now they are offering ways internet users can protect themselves from <i>scammers</i>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Authorities suggested dealing with local folks you can meet in person, and said it is wise to refrain from using money wiring services. Officials also urged internet users to keep financial information like bank numbers and social security numbers private.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Superior authorities said there are numerous legitimate postings online, but deals that appear too good to be true may very well be a <a href="http://scam419.blogspot.com/"><b>scam</b></a>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Craigslist has not yet responded to a request for comment. If you have been a victim of online fraud, you can report it through the <a href="http://www.ic3.gov/"><b>Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)</b></a>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2419682666186176717.post-17547750149214358752010-10-11T03:17:00.000-07:002010-10-11T03:31:03.935-07:0021 years old scammer involved in Job scam remand<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Aman who <b><a href="http://www.nigerianspam.com/nigerian-scammers.php">scammed</a> </b>several persons out of nearly US$7,000 after they registered for overseas employment on a nonexistent apple farm in Michigan in the United States, was on Friday remanded for sentencing on November 17 in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLLnB1DPpBI/AAAAAAAAAT4/WvTbu-aTDkM/s1600/job-scam.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7i3K2kISf94/TLLnB1DPpBI/AAAAAAAAAT4/WvTbu-aTDkM/s1600/job-scam.jpeg" /></a></div></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Kemar Harrison, the <b>21-year-old mastermind</b> of the elaborate scheme which saw persons attending job registrations at different hotels across the island, pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining money by false pretence, reduced from seven counts, when he appeared in court.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The court was told that Harrison placed an advertisement in one of the daily newspapers on August 29, stating that <b>jobs</b> were available at Jay’s Apple Farm. Interested persons who called to enquire were also informed about available jobs at another company, Davidson’s Construction Company.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">According to the investigating officer, arrangements were made at the Altamont Court <b>Hotel in Kingston </b>and at other hotels for persons to attend and register.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The investigating officer also told the court that Harrison also employed a bearer and other persons to collect the money and the documents from the job seekers.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Harrison was arrested on September 7 during a sting operation at his home where he was seen collecting money that was collected from some of the complainants. Several documents relating to the <b>fake</b> <a href="http://scam419.blogspot.com/2010/08/jay-vincent-is-indicted-in-internet.html"><i><b>job scam</b></i></a> were seized along with <b>US$1,650, and $13,000</b>.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">On Friday, Harrison’s attorney Ian Bishop asked Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey to instruct the police to turn over the money to his client for him to return it to the complainants. But the magistrate told him that the proceeds of crime could not be released to repay the complainants and has been confiscated by the State.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">Bishop requested a social enquiry report on Harrison.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">The attorney also begged the magistrate to offer his client bail for him to repay the complainants but the magistrate refused his request.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;">“Let him stay where he is. He is too clever,” she said.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Job-scammer-remanded-for-sentencing"><b>source </b></a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1