Authorities busted a ring of reputed Armenian gangsters who they allege perpetrated the most ginormous Medicare fraud of all time, racking up $163 million in fake claims. [More]
crime
Delusional Thieves Caught Stealing Entire Mansions
By 10.13.10
A ring of confused folk in Georgia are stealing entire million-dollar homes, deeding themselves the property with bogus paperwork and squatting inside. [More]
"Rogue Trader" Gets 3 Years, $6.7B Fine
By 10.5.10
The “rogue trader” who cost his former employer, French bank Société Générale, $7.1 billion through a series of high-stakes bets that leveraged fictitious transactions outside his trading limit was sentenced today to 3 years in prison and a “symbolic” $6.7 billion fine. [More]
Russian Hotties Collared In $3M Bank Hack Scam
By 10.1.10
Several comely young Russian woman were snagged by the feds in New York yesterday for allegedly working as money mules for hackers who stole over $3 mil from American bank accounts using trojan viruses. [More]
Guitar Center Customer Loses Fight With Elmo
By 9.28.10
Who would punch Elmo in the back of the head? A disgruntled customer at a Guitar Center in Florida, that’s who. The Elmo performer was working a gig at a toy store next door, then wandered over to Guitar Center. That’s when a customer came in, played some drums, behaved aggressively toward other customers and staff, then punched Elmo. [More]
Thieves Suck Money From Supermarket Safes With Vacuum Cleaner
By 9.27.10
A pack of crooks has been on a four-year spree where they drill a hole in the pneumatic tube that takes money from the checkout to the cashroom and suck it right out the safe using a high-power vacuum. [More]
Track And Recover A Stolen Laptop With Prey
By 9.24.10
Lifehacker has a great tutorial on how to use the free software called “Prey” to track and recover your stolen laptop or Android. What’s cool is that the program can silently locate the laptop via triangulation and take pictures and screenshots, or you can more aggressively lock the computer down and send whoever is using it various warning messages. [More]
Auto Garage Door Closer Protects Your Cat From Armed Robbery
By 9.22.10
This ad, which uses an image that’s been passed around online for a few years, seems to suggest that while you are gone from home, a burglar might sneak into your house through the open garage door and stick your cat up at gunpoint. [More]
Mugging Alarms On ATMs Are Expensive And Useless
By 9.22.10
Anti-robbery systems at ATMs, like an alarm button button or a PIN code used to alert police you’re getting mugged, are rarely installed on the cash disgorgers, and with good reason. [More]
Caller ID Says "Phone Scam"
By 9.21.10
Telemarketing credit card fraudsters aren’t even trying anymore. Reader Chris took a picture of the caller ID for one of them actually showing up as “PHONE SCAM.” [More]
Man Arrested For Spilling His Midichlorians On Star Wars Toy In Florida Walmart
By 9.21.10
The Smoking Gun website has posted an affidavit describing a particularly skeevy toy aisle incident in a Florida Walmart. A man allegedly took a copy of the February Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue over to the toy aisle, then masturbated to it in front of the Star Wars toys. When he was done, according to a Walmart employee who witnessed the incident, he wiped his hand on a nearby toy; a police source who spoke with TSG says it was a Star Wars lightsaber. [More]
While The Children Ran For Ice Cream, She Reached For Her Bleach
By 9.16.10
From the disproportionate reaction file comes a Sacramento, California woman arrested for tossing bleach all over an ice cream man. Were they out of Huckleberry Fudge Swirl? Nope, she thought the ice cream man had shortchanged her a week ago. [More]
Burglary Ring Scoped Facebook Statuses For Targets
By 9.13.10
Even though your friends may be bored with your copious Facebook posts, there is a certain group that is very interested in your lame airport terminal observations and vacation photos. That group would be thieves. [More]
Best Fraud Spam Ever
By 9.10.10
Something about this spammed fraud attempt that landed in our inbox amused me. Maybe it was the chicken burgers for mother. [More]
Mom Threw Away Blackberry, T-Mobile Charges For $6,000 In Fraudulent Calls
By 9.3.10
Before leaving the country, Fermin left his Blackberry on his table along with some junk mail. His mother came over while he was gone to clean up, and swept up the phone along with the junk mail and tossed it. Someone found it in the garbage and used it to make $6,000 in fraudulent calls. Fermin negotiated with T-Mobile to pay $2,000, then they changed their minds without notice and decide to hold him on the hook for $4,000. What’s a consumer to do? [More]
Mall Security And Suspected Shoplifters Engage In Car Chase
By 8.31.10
Earlier this month, two mall security guards in Montville, NJ, gave chase to a carful of suspected Victoria’s Secret shoplifters for six miles. Both vehicles eventually stopped at a liquor store parking lot two towns over, where a real policeman–who at first thought the guards were legit undercover cops–stepped in and started issuing tickets. [More]
Should We Confront The Bellman About Stealing Our Camera?
By 8.30.10
One our readers was staying at a hotel and the friendly bellhop brought his luggage, including his camera case, up to his room, while he parked the car. When our reader got to the room, the camera was gone. [More]
Thieves Steal $10 Million, Pennies At A Time
By 8.27.10
These credit card thieves allegedly stole over $10 million by placing bogus charges on customers’ credit cards for amounts between $10 and $.20. Each customer was stolen from only once, spreading the theft out over a million different cardholders. Check your statements, there’s a decent chance you were one of them. [More]
