If you were a criminal and needed to shoplift a chainsaw from a retail establishment discreetly, safely, and efficiently, how would you go about it? An Oklahoma man allegedly chose a novel method: stuffing it down his shorts. [More]
crime
Mike Fights The Identity Thieves
By 2.18.11
Someone stole Mike’s identity and has been using it to pay for gas service and buy cellphones in his name. He’s even got a $163 default judgment against him for something he never paid. Here’s how he unraveled the threads of his identity thieves, and how he may never truly be free from their grasp. [More]
Starbucks Recommends iPhone App Users Enable Password Lock
By 2.10.11
Reached for comment about concerns that people could steal your Starbucks Reward card by taking a screenshot of it as it appears on the iPhone app, a Starbucks spokesperson told Consumerist, “We definitely want our customers to have a good experience with mobile payment. We take security seriously.” They also recommended customers take additional safety measures and offered a solution for anyone who had their card stolen. [More]
Crooks Can Make You Pay For Their Starbucks With Simple Screengrab
By 2.10.11
Researchers have discovered a security flaw in the new Starbucks Rewards Card iPhone app that could let someone else rack up a bunch of free coffees on your dime. All someone has to do is take a picture of your barcode and then they can use it to buy all the delicious black swill they want, draining your account to the last drop. [More]
Cabby Pleads Guilty To Ripping Passenger Off For $800k
By 2.9.11
The car service driver accused of ripping off a Hong Kong feng-shui master for over $800,000 on his credit card has plead guilty, New York Post reports. [More]
The Ocean's 11 Of HELOC Fraud
By 2.9.11
Fortune has a great profile on the “Ocean’s 11” of HELOC fraud. Armed with just laptops and cellphones set to the right area code, he and his crew would drain home-equity lines of credit from unsuspecting homeowners accounts, piecing together enough of a profile on them from publicly available information to break through their account security. At his peak, he was pulling down millions a week, operating out of fancy hotel suites and drinking heavily from an endless stream of high-end liquor, jewelry, and prostitutes. And despite the FBI’s best dragnet efforts, he still remains at large today. [More]
Florida Bans Coke-And-Meth-Like "Bath Salts" Sold In Gas Stations
By 2.8.11
Florida became the second state after Louisiana to ban sales of MDPV, a synthetic drug with effects similar to meth and cocaine that sellers are marketing as “bath salts,” NPR reports. They can be found in convenience stores and gas stations. Besides their high, authorities have said that the drug produces a psychotic break in their users, afflicting them with violent hallucinations. In one case, a man tore out a police radio from the car with his teeth. In another, a woman went after her mother with a machete, having confused her with a monster. Party time! [More]
Elderly Woman Jailed For Throwing Condiments In Library Book Drop
By 2.3.11
There are a number of ways to let an establishment know that you are unhappy with the service that it provides. Do not, however, follow the example of a 75-year-old Idaho woman who deposited ketchup, mayonnaise, maple syrup, and other sticky condiments in her local library’s book drop, destroying books and evading capture. She recently plead guilty to the crime, and will serve one month in jail. [More]
Skimmer Uses Bank Door Swipe, Crooks Don't Even Touch ATM
By 1.31.11
In a twist to the usual ATM skimmer scam, there’s a new report from Krebs on Security about crooks who put the skimmer inside the bank door-lock. When you swipe your card to get inside, they grab your digits. A camera hidden behind a mirror above the ATM and pointed down at the keypad records your PIN code when you punch it in. [More]
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Waiter Thwarts Dine And Dashers By Leaping Onto Their Speeding Car
By 1.25.11
A brave waiter threw himself onto a customer’s SUV as it sped away from the restaurant. They had tried to run out without paying their $51 bill. The 24-year old jumped on as the car pulled out of the parking lot, grabbing onto the roofrack and planting his feet on the running board. Listen, you just don’t mess with a waiter’s tips. [More]
Buy A Stolen Debit Card For $80
By 1.21.11
Security firm Pandalabs investigated the online underworld’s menu of services and has surveyed the going rates for various kinds of fraud. Stolen credit card numbers can be had for as little as $2, but these are like buying a mystery bag. Crooks don’t know the cardholder’s info and there’s no assurance that it will actually work. So for $80 thieves will sell a debit card with a guaranteed (small) balance. To get access to a big balance of $82,000, that will run ya $700. [More]
Gym Guards Beat Man To Pulp When He Tried To Cancel
By 1.12.11
A computer programmer who has been trying to cancel his gym membership since August says two gym security guards jumped him and pulverized his face when he wouldn’t back down from his cancellation request. [More]
Dine And Dashers On The Rise, Wearing Ties
By 1.12.11
In the last year the NYPD says there was a 20% increase in the number of “chew and screwers” – customers who run up a restaurant or bar tab and then duck out before paying it. And it’s not just the usual “live fast die young crowd,” entire families and guys with Monopoly mustaches are getting in on the action. [More]
Thousands Of Fake Shake Weights Seized
By 1.4.11
On Monday, U.S. Customs in Savannah, Georgia intercepted a shipment of 1,783 pieces of counterfeit exercise gear imported from China. The 764 cartons included Shake Weights, Body by Jake, and Total Core. The gear sported counterfeit logos. So not only would you get the normal benefits of a fake exercise product, the fake exercise products themselves were also fake. [More]
Smuggler Hid Cocaine Inside Easter Eggs
By 12.28.10
You know this “Easter Creep” thing is out of control when a coke smuggler thinks Christmas time is the perfect time to start hiding his precious white powder inside Easter Eggs. [More]
Carjacker Gets Tracked Down In 7 Minutes Thanks To Droid App
By 12.3.10
Droid does…justice? A guy who got carjacked was able to track the thief and send cops to surround him in seven minutes, thanks to the Lookout app installed on his Droid left in the car. [More]
ATM Skim Scammers Steal Cards With Old Cassette Recorders
By 12.2.10
Fraudsters are cracking open old handheld cassette recorders and using their components to build ATM skimmers that steal your credit card numbers. [More]
