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A new sting operation conducted by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has already nabbed 18 spammers. Dubbed Operation Eagle Claw, it has also led to the shut down of 800 malicious websites. The Commission has partnered with Microsoft on the project and said its goal is to remove Nigeria from the top 10 list of countries where the most scam emails originate from.
The Nigerian or 419 scam, named after the section number in the Nigerian Penal code that makes them illegal... Read Full Story
Hucksters posing as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials--and promising thousands of dollars in sweepstakes prizes--are now targeting Texas consumers.
Scam artists behind the scheme make initial contact with consumers by telephone and then send an official-seeming letter with instructions on how to claim the prize, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
The letter, which has a phony FTC logo, is designed to convince consumers that government officials are contacting them... Read Full Story
STAYING SAFE — “America’s Crime Prevention Column”
with
Bruce Mandelblit
Phishing is a sneaky tactic for cyber-thugs to steal your personal information.
Just how sneaky is phishing?
Well, just ask the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller. He recently stated that he was almost the victim of a phishing scam. In fact, Director Mueller said he stopped using online banking because of this attempted phishing incident.
Exactly what is phishing?
Phishing is a nasty tool that... Read Full Story
The economic downturn appears to be bringing out the worst in some people. The Federal Trade Commission announced a major crackdown Wednesday on scammers trying to take advantage of people worried about the tough economy by promising jobs that don't exist, get-rich-quick schemes, debt-reduction scams and other phony services. The biggest case involved a California company called Family Products that marketed alleged get-rich schemes such as "John Beck's Free & Clear Real Estate System." The... Read Full Story
Updated Monday, May 11, 2009 at 3:53 p.m. EST Scammers have spoofed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) website in a phishing scam targeted at those who will be receiving an economic recovery payment this month. Under Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in February, nearly 55 million individuals receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement or veterans benefits will receive a one-time $250 economic recovery payment this... Read Full Story
Microsoft works with Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Western Union to provide financial scam guidance to people as they search the Web. REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and Western Union, today launched a series of online public service announcements (PSAs) designed to help protect consumers from scams related to mortgage foreclosure rescue offers and promises of... Read Full Story
Today I received two copies of what seems to be the latest spam-and-scam operation from the colorful folks of Nigeria. This one is a little more direct than most of the previous 419 letters; they actually state an advance fee of $175 up front in order to take delivery of a fake bank draft of $500,000 from the Fedex Courier Company conveniently located in “West Africa Nigeria”. Usually the original email simply says that you have won a prize of some sort, after which you can find out what the... Read Full Story
ATM Fraud and Security Digest - August 2009
Written by Douglas Russell, DFR Risk Management
Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:47
Transaction Reversal Fraud / Manipulation / Denomination Fraud
A person suspected of being involved with transaction reversal fraud (TRF) perpetrated in Trinidad & Tobago was shot dead on her way to court in August. The Venezuelan national who had previously pleaded not guilty was on her way to the same court that sentenced another Venezuelan... Read Full Story
After pleading guilty last year, two Nigerians and a French citizen were sentenced by a New York federal judge to jail Thursday for scamming $1.2 million through email. One of the men, Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, 31, of Nigeria, was sentenced to 87 months in prison. The others, Anthony Friday Ehis, 34, of Senegal, and Kesandu Egwuonwu, 35, of Nigeria, each got 57 months. The three men were arrested in Amsterdam in early 2006 by law enforcement authorities after the U.S. Postal Inspection... Read Full Story
A band of brazen thieves ripped off hundreds of New Yorkers by rigging ATMs to steal account and password information from bank customers. (see video below) They used the pilfered info to swipe half a million dollars from their victims' bank accounts - the latest twist in increasingly aggressive identity-theft scams, police said They sauntered into Staten Island branches on Henderson Ave. and Amboy Road and installed devices on the bank's ATM machines, police said. The first - a skimmer... Read Full Story
