For about two years, Uber allegedly used a tool dubbed “Hell” to keep an eye on Lyft and other rivals, while also trying to lure away their drivers. This program caught the attention of federal law enforcement, who are now reportedly investigating whether Hell crossed any legal lines. [More]
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IRS Warns Of Increase In W-2 Theft Scams
By 8.22.17
Tax time might still be months away, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be on the lookout for possible scams: The Internal Revenue Service and FBI are warning consumers and businesses about an email scam targeting employee W-2 forms after seeing a 150% increase in incidents last year. [More]
FBI To Parents: Watch Out For Kids’ Privacy With Internet-Connected Toys
By 7.19.17
A basketball, a Lego set, or a box of crayons is largely what it seems, but modern “smart toys and entertainment devices” for kids have a lot of things in them that can collect sensitive data. And as more and more of a kid’s nursery fills up with gadgets that connect to Bluetooth, the web, or parent apps, the feds are advising parents to be wary. [More]
The Russians Are After Our Chocolate And Slot Machines
By 6.8.17
When you think of mobsters involved in trafficking stolen goods, perhaps you drugs, cigarettes, and guns come to mind. But the more than 30 people associated with an alleged Russian crime syndicate in New York arrested this week are also accused of dealing in something a bit sweeter — 10,000 pounds of pilfered chocolate. [More]
Digital Rights Advocates Sue Justice Dept. To Learn More About FBI Paying Off Best Buy Informants
By 6.1.17
A child pornography case in California has grown into a strange thing over the years, as lawyers for the defendant argued — and later proved — that the FBI had been paying Best Buy employees after they found illegal content on customers’ devices. Now the EFF is suing the Justice Department to find out just how the feds found, recruited, and trained these informants, and just how widespread the practice is. [More]
Psychiatric Hospital Chain Reportedly Under Investigation For Allegedly Holding Patients Longer Than Needed
By 5.24.17
Investigators from the FBI and the Department of Defense are reportedly looking into allegations that Universal Health Services — the nation’s largest provider of inpatient psychiatric care, with nearly 200 facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico — is padding its bottom line by deliberately holding patients longer than is medically necessary. [More]
FBI Attorney: Tech Companies Are Helping Dumb Criminals By Providing Quality Encryption
By 2.9.17
Much of the debate about encrypted devices and messaging services has been centered on more sophisticated criminal or terrorist activities, where the people involved are actively searching out ways to avoid detection by law enforcement. However, the FBI’s top attorney contends that tech companies may be inadvertently giving dimwitted crooks a leg up by making quality encryption so widely available. [More]
Arby’s Admits Malware Infection And Credit Card Breach At Hundreds Of Restaurants
By 2.9.17
The last time you satisfied your craving for seasoned curly fries at Arby’s, did you use a credit or debit card? It’s time to start watching your statements for fraudulent transactions and also to watch your mailbox for a new card: Arby’s announced a payment card breach at a few hundred of its restaurants. [More]
Friendly Reminder: The FBI Will Never Show Up Unannounced And Demand Money
By 2.3.17
If someone comes knocking on your door, claiming to be an FBI agent and demanding money, call the actual police — because you’re being conned by someone impersonating a federal agent. Just ask the operators of a money wiring service in Seattle, who were robbed of $130,000. [More]
FBI Paid Multiple Best Buy Employees After Finding Illegal Content On Computers
By 1.10.17
As we told you last spring, lawyers for a California doctor accused of possessing child pornography claimed that the FBI had paid a Best Buy employee as an informant. Recently released court documents confirm that multiple Best Buy/Geek Squad staffers received money from the agency after telling the FBI about finding illegal content on customers’ devices. [More]
VW Executive Arrested In Connection With ‘Dieselgate’ Scandal
By 1.9.17
Five months after investigators found evidence of criminal behavior at Volkswagen tied to “Dieselgate,” one executive with the carmaker has been arrested. [More]
Who Am I Supposed To Call When My Credit Card Info Is Stolen?
By 10.11.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
You just found out your credit or debit card info has been used by someone else to make a fraudulent purchase. There are so many different people you can call, each involved in some aspect of this theft. There’s your bank that issued the card, the credit card network the issuer uses for that card, the retailer or website that processed the payment, the police, the FBI… Do you need to call all of these or just one or two? What if you think your incident might be a sign of a larger breach? [More]
Yahoo Calls Report Claiming It Snooped On Emails For U.S. Government “Misleading”
By 10.5.16
After a report this week claimed Yahoo built a tool specially designed to help U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies eavesdrop on its email users’ conversations, the tech company has issued another, lengthier response, without flat out denying anything. [More]
Yahoo Reportedly Built Tool To Snoop On All Its Emails For U.S. Government
By 10.4.16 — Updated: 10.5.16
It’s one thing to comply with a court order from law enforcement seeking access to a user’s email account; it’s another to build a tool specifically to help U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies eavesdrop on those online discussions. A new report claims that Yahoo did just that last year by creating a program that allowed the company to scour all of its messages on behalf of the government. [More]
News Organizations Sue FBI To Find Out Who & How Much It Paid To Unlock Terrorist’s iPhone
By 9.16.16
In the months following the tragic Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, the FBI and Apple engaged in a heated legal (and publicity) battle over whether or not the tech giant could be compelled to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the attackers. Then in March 2016, the FBI paid an unidentified third party to provide a solution this particular problem. The identity and actual cost of this unlocking is still unknown, but two of the country’s biggest media companies have sued the FBI to learn more. [More]
JetBlue Passenger Arrested After Allegedly Lighting Blankets On Fire During Flight
By 9.8.16
When the flight attendants tell a plane full of passengers that smoking is prohibited onboard, perhaps they should clarify that lighting anything on fire is not okay. Some people could probably use a reminder, like the traveler accused of using a lighter to set two blankets aflame during a JetBlue flight. [More]
Lawmaker Seeks FBI Files On Financial Crash; Wants To See Why No Bank Execs Were Arrested
By 9.7.16
Millions of Americans lost their jobs, houses, savings, and more when the housing market collapsed under the weight of mortgages that should never have been approved, let alone bundled and converted into worthless, toxic securities. And yet, no senior Wall Street bank executives were ever charged with a crime. Now one U.S. congressman is asking to look at the FBI files to find out why. [More]
American Airlines Pilot Tackles Passenger Charged With Assaulting Flight Attendant
By 8.2.16
A Kentucky man is banned from flying on commercial airlines after being arrested on a slew of charges following an altercation with an American Airlines flight attendant that resulted in the man being pinned to the ground by the plane’s pilot. [More]
