Fraudulent check scams (which we wrote about yesterday) have taken a new, exciting twist: integrated into so-called “mystery shopper” scams. The classified ads you see for secret or mystery shoppers used to be small time cons, designed to bilk you out of $100 or so to provide information that’s readily available for free. But add a little check fraud and you could be taken for thousands of dollars.
fraud
By 10.3.07
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Perhaps New Yorkers will see a city-wide crackdown on identity theft, now that Mayor Bloomber’s identity has been stolen. Twice. [City Room]
GoDaddy Hushing Up Customer Credit Card Data Breach?
By 10.2.07
Did domain name registrar GoDaddy have a credit card security breach that they’re not telling anyone about? That’s what Reader Newcxns thinks. Two weeks ago, one of his Citi cards was replaced. One week later, another. The only thing Citi would tell him is that “a merchant” reported a possible data breach. No merchant has sent any data breach reports to Newcxns. In typical fashion, banks and vendors like to hide it when their security systems fail and compromise your account information.
Jerks Often Steal Checks And Money Orders From Mailboxes
By 9.29.07
You probably already knew that, but like Shemika, you probably didn’t think it would happen to you.
Scammers Arrested After Claiming They Could Multiply Money With A Secret Potion
By 9.26.07
Some scams are clever and some are not. This is one of the not-so-clever ones. Jean-Luc Mbilli and Constant Yao were arrested in Fort Lauderdale, FL after trying to convince Samith Ghazawi, an convenience store employee, that they could use a special potion to multiply money.
Fraud Protection: What's The Difference Between Credit And Debit?
By 9.26.07
Federal Reserve Board Regulation E is the federal regulation that governs Electronic Fund Transfers and includes provisions that makes debit-card transactions instantaneous. Instantaneous means that the money is technically spent from the account the moment the card is used, which is important because your debit card draws from a bank account as opposed to a line of credit.
TransUnion Will Let You Freeze Your Credit Report
By 9.25.07
Beginning October 15th, credit reporting company TransUnion will let consumers freeze their credit reports, which means imposters will not be able to use your credit to do things like open new phone accounts or sign up for credit cards. While this is great news, the other two major credit reporters, Experian and Equifax, are so far not offering a similar feature, although they say they’re considering it.
Interview With RIAA Lawsuit Target Tanya Andersen
By 9.19.07
You might remember Tanya. She was falsely accused by the RIAA of sharing over 1,000 songs. Rather than admit they had the wrong person, the RIAA lawyers just wouldn’t quit.
Your Bill Looks Fraudulent. Pay It Anyway
By 9.15.07
Update: T-Mobile reports that the situation has been satisfactorily resolved. Motoko disagrees.
Don't Like RFID In Your Credit Card? Ask 'Em To Turn It Off
By 9.11.07
While the danger of someone long-distance slurping the account information communicating out the RFID chips being increasingly embedded in credit cards is, for the time being, remote, reader Eyebrows McGee reports success in asking AmEx to turn it off…
6 Signs Of Telemarketing Fraud
By 9.11.07
Besides being annoying and disruptive, some telemarketers are outright crooks, trying to swindle the unaware out of their hard-earned money. Via Fraud.org, here are six tell-tale conversation flags that indicate you’re dealing with a telephonic scam artist:
Chase Accuses You Of Check Fraud, Threatens To Report You
By 9.6.07
Dan got a new job (Congratulations, Dan!) and moved from Chicago to Indianapolis. The move meant he had to close his Citibank account and open a new one. He chose Chase because they have lots of branches nearby.
Best Buy Employee Caught Stealing $13,000 In Gift Cards
By 8.31.07
Best Buy employee Olivia Bailey, 18, was accused last week of stealing $13,000 from a Best Buy store in Lawrence, NY by using fraudulently obtained credit card numbers to purchase gift cards.
T-Mobile Refuses To Process Your Credit Card Order, Then Processes It Anyway… After You've Gone To Another Company
By 8.29.07
T-Mobile refused to process reader Lucas’ girlfriend’s credit card because she couldn’t verify some of her personal information (she’s moved a lot and doesn’t remember the addresses of old dorm rooms, ect.). After she was rejected she went to another company for her phone… only to find that T-Mobile decided to process her order.
Check Fraud Up As High Quality Printer Prices Drop
By 8.29.07
With high-quality printers are widely available at the consumer level, check counterfeiting is on the rise, usually in conjunction with “advance fee scams,” where someone is tricked into cashing an overpayment of some sort and then sending the remainder to another address, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Then by some machination or another, the overpayment turns out to be fraudulent and the scammer vanishes. The image above shows various security features to look for when evaluating a check’s verisimilitude.
Washington Mutual Fraud Department Doesn't Feel Like Reimbursing Elderly Parents Defrauded For $1,100
By 8.28.07
I am writing this note today on behalf of my 80 year old parents who have been banking with Washington Mutual. My parents account has had 10 forged checks passed on their 3 of their bank accounts. The fraud department has reimbursed one of the accounts for 2 checks after faxing a copy of the police report. However, today, after 20 days now, the fraud department has not reimbursed the other accounts. I have called fraud department many times now in an effort to recapture these funds in the amount of $1,100.00. Quite frankly the department was very rude and has been giving my parents the run around!
Notorious "ID Theft Gang" Arrested
By 8.17.07
We weren’t quite sure there even was something called an “ID theft gang,” but there must be because the ringleader of one has been arrested. A Russian con artist was caught posing as Charles J. Wyly Jr., friend of President Bush and former head of the craft-store chain Michael’s. The con artist was trying to pass a $7 million dollar check to a New York gold dealer.
