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]
fraud
Study Linking Vaccine To Autism Was Fraud, British Medical Journal Reports
By 1.6.11
Blasted almost as soon as it was published, a 1998 study linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism has still managed to scare off hordes of anxious parents from fully vaccinating their children. Now a new investigative report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) goes further, saying that the study was not only rife with error, but outright fraud, committed for financial gain. [More]
Dead Woman Used To Collect Thousands Of Debts
By 1.3.11
Martha Kunkle has been dead since 1995, but that hasn’t stopped her from trying to collect on thousands of debts. Despite being six feet under, her signature continued to be signed on thousands of affidavits filed by Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) in lawsuits against borrowers, lawsuits that are ripe for contesting because the documents they’re based on are fraudulent. [More]
Scams: Do You Know About Mortgage "Flopping?"
By 12.21.10
You’ve heard of “flipping” houses, well now there’s “flopping.” While the first was speculative, this one is outright fraud. [More]
Madoff's Son Hangs Himself
By 12.13.10
The son of convicted ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff was found dead this weekend hanging by his neck from a dog leash. Mark Madoff’s death was ruled a suicide. According to reports, he had been depressed because no one on Wall Street would give him a job. [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]
Watch Out For Signs Of Get-Poor-Quick Scams
By 11.21.10
These may be hard times for the working man, but they’re boom times for con artists. In a tough financial climate, it’s more tempting than ever to seek out extra income streams, taking flyers on opportunities with which you may have little experience. That’s where shysters come in, ready to exploit your need for quick, easy money while hoping you overlook things that don’t seem quite right with their propositions. [More]
Man Holds Bikini Bacon Contest For Charity. Except Charity Doesn't Exist.
By 11.18.10
A restaurant owner had a sizzling idea: a bikini bacon contest. Women were judged based on patron hoots and hollers in their ability to wear bikinis made out of woven bacon. The proceeds from the night and from the raffle tickets were all to go to a foundation for juvenile diabetes. Sounds great, except the charity doesn’t exist. CBS Sacramento’s Call Kurtis investigates. [More]
The $800,000 Cab Ride
By 11.16.10
A Hong Kong businessman took a 13 mile car service ride to New York City that wound up costing him almost $800,000. [More]
Meet The One-Woman Enron
By 11.15.10
A Texas mom has been accused of running her own miniature Enron in order to support her upper middle-class lifestyle and put her son through college. Basically, she borrowed from Peter to pay Paul to buy a Lexus and never paid Peter back. [More]
Inside The Mind Of The Most Epic Credit Card Thief of All Time
By 11.12.10
Remember the hacks of TJ Maxx and Marshall’s that resulted in hundreds of millions of credit card numbers getting stolen? Here’s an in-depth profile of the 29-year-old mastermind behind them all, now serving a 20-year prison sentence. Too bad the Skull Gang doesn’t take plastic. [More]
Convicted Fraudsters Still Have Real Estate Licenses
By 11.12.10
So, whaddya gotta do to lose a real estate license? A Sacramento Bee investigation uncovered licensed real estate brokers who were suspected or even convicted of fraud, some of them even convicted for committing mortgage fraud. [More]
Beware Of "Windshield Bullies"
By 11.12.10
Police are issuing renewed warnings about “windshield bullies.” In some of the worst cases, they’ll damage your windshield and then ring your doorbell offering their windshield replacement services. [More]
Scammers Tell Guy Hard Drive Has Virus, Bilk For $6 Million
By 11.10.10
We’ve just found a tech repair service worse than the Geek Squad. [More]
Cops Catch ATM Napkin Scammer
By 11.5.10
San Francisco PD have caught a crook using an ingeniously low-fi method to rip people off ATMs: napkins. [More]
Read The Suicide Note Of A Ponzi Schemer
By 10.27.10
“For decades I’ve felt trapped, like, someone who has had a stroke who can think on the inside, but cannot communicate on the outside. … I feel like I have disappeared long ago. … So here is the story. My secret life of terrible crime.” So begins the suicide note of Robert Markman, whose 20-year Ponzi scheme was only discovered after he shot himself. [More]
Scammers Sell Plywood Wrapped In Black Tape As 50" Flat Screen
By 10.26.10
They cut a slit in the back of the wrapping and then the guy got nervous and said “I left something in the car,” and booked. What had appeared to be a 50″ flat screen TV was actually plywood wrapped in black tape. [More]
Understand The Essential Players In The Foreclosure Scandal
By 10.25.10
Having trouble keeping track of all the different players and abbreviations and names in the latest foreclosure fraud mess? ProPublica offers a handy primer. [More]
