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  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , money laundering,   

    Doctor falls prey to money laundering scam 

    By Greg Collier

    One of the main points we try to drive home when discussing scams is that anyone can fall victim to a scam. It doesn’t matter if you’re a teenager working a part-time job, or an established academic, there’s a scam designed just for your particular circumstance.

    And speaking of academics, the victim in today’s story is a doctor. Whether someone is a medical doctor or a doctor of letters, they’ve spent years, if not decades, of constant learning. When advances in their respective fields are made, that’s even more studying and researching that has to be done. They can’t become successes in their field without being studious and knowledgeable. Yet, they still get scammed like everyone else.

    One of the more common scams that targets doctors is a variation of the jury duty scam. In these instances, instead of being told they missed jury duty, they’re told they’ve missed testifying as an expert witness. The doctors are told to make a payment to the scammers posing as police to avoid being arrested.

    The doctor from Cleveland who recently fell victim to a scam was targeted in a licensing scam. He received a call that claimed to be from the Ohio State Medical Board. The phone number on the caller ID even matched that of the Medical Board. The 57-year-old doctor was told his license was being suspended because he was being investigated by the FBI for money laundering. He was instructed to wire $20,000 to have his license reinstated. After the doctor wired the money, he called the actual Medical Board to see if the payment was received. That’s when he learned he had been scammed.

    It’s essential to recognize that scams don’t discriminate. They can infiltrate the lives of individuals from all walks of life, irrespective of their economic or educational background. Falling victim to a scam doesn’t reflect a lack of intelligence or judgment; it underscores the cunning tactics employed by fraudsters to exploit our vulnerabilities. By staying informed, vigilant, and sharing our experiences, we can collectively build a stronger defense against scams and protect ourselves and our communities from the pervasive threat they pose.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 21, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , money laundering, ,   

    Scam victim arrested for scamming 

    Scam victim arrested for scamming

    By Greg Collier

    It’s a rare occurrence for a scam victim to be arrested for allegedly being part of a scam, but it does happen. Typically, it happens in the reshipping scam. In those cases, scam victims can be charged with a crime if they willingly falsify shipping documentation as directed by the scammers to bypass US customs. This isn’t a story about that, but it’s just as heartbreaking.

    A 71-year-old man from Des Moines, Iowa, fell victim to a police impersonation scam. It hasn’t been reported which police impersonation scam he fell for, but the scammers did pose as federal agents. It wasn’t enough to take the man’s money, as the scammers used him to pick up money from their victims. The man is said to have collected money from the scammers’ victims, and deposited the money to the scammers at a Bitcoin ATM.

    The regrettable part of this story is that even after being scammed himself, the man thought he was legitimately helping federal investigators. Des Moines police even warned the man what he was doing was illegal, but the man persisted anyway. The police say they had no choice but to arrest him. The man has been charged with money laundering.

    Protecting yourself from police impersonation scams involves being vigilant, informed, and cautious when dealing with any situation involving law enforcement or authority figures. Remember, legitimate law enforcement officers will not threaten you over the phone, demand immediate payments, or use aggressive tactics. Taking the time to verify the authenticity of any communication can go a long way in protecting yourself from scams.

    As one investigator said, “Unless you’ve got a police officer or a legit government official standing in front of you, I wouldn’t trust anybody on that phone.”

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 17, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , money laundering, ,   

    Victim could lose home after being scammed 

    By Greg Collier

    An elderly New Jersey woman has already lost $420,000 to scammers, and because of that scam she may lose her home.

    It started when she received an email stating she had been charged $500 for an antivirus subscription. This is a trick scammers use to get victims to call the number included in the email, which the woman did. The phony customer service rep said they could issue a refund if the victim gave them remote access to her computer, which again she did.

    While the scammers had access to her computer, they had her access her bank account under the guise of issuing a refund. Somewhere along the line, the phony $500 charge became a real $50,000 charge. The scammers said they would issue a refund through a wire transfer. However, the victim was instructed not to tell her bank about the wire transfer because the bank may think it’s part of a money laundering scheme.

    To further this supposed protection against money laundering accusations, the woman was also instructed to move her money into an overseas cryptocurrency account. The scammers then instructed the woman to tell her bank that the large transactions being made were for antique furniture. Her bank did, in fact, ask about the transactions, and she told them what the scammers instructed her to.

    The scam didn’t end there, though. Not only did the scammers take her money, they also opened several lines of equity using her home as collateral. Now, the woman may lose her home since she doesn’t have the money to pay off the loans the scammers took out. At one point, the scammers even had her declared deceased.

    Keep in mind, this was all over a $500 refund for a service that she wasn’t even charged for.

    If you receive an email like this, the first thing to do is check your bank or credit card account to see if the charge is even there. If it isn’t, just delete the email. It’s also worth noting that no legitimate company issuing you a refund will ever ask you for remote access to your device. Remote access should only be given to people you know and trust personally. Not to mention that most refunds can be done almost instantly. Lastly, no legitimate company will ever tell you to hide something from your bank. If someone asks you to do that, they’re actually asking you to hide them from your bank.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 21, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , money laundering,   

    Scammers accuse victim of money laundering 

    Scammers accuse victim of money laundering

    By Greg Collier

    A woman from Rochester, Minnesota, recently lost thousands of dollars to scammers. It started when the woman received a robocall that claimed to be from Amazon. The recording said that she had been charged for several Amazon purchases, and to press 1 if she did not make them. After she pressed 1, someone claiming to be an Amazon representative spoke to her. The caller said that they would speak to her bank about the charges.

    Not too long after that call, the woman received another call from someone claiming to be with the Federal Trade Commission. This caller told her that her identity had been stolen. The caller told the woman to protect her money, she would need to withdraw the money from her bank account. However, she was told not to contact police, or she could be accused of money laundering. She was then instructed to deposit the money into a Bitcoin ATM that was at a gas station. The victim lost $7,000 in total.

    This scam has a lot of moving parts, but each one is a red flag if you know what to look for. For example, Amazon does not call customers about fraudulent charges. Even on Amazon’s own help page, they say that if you received any communication about a charge you didn’t make, it likely didn’t come from Amazon. If you receive any communication like this, first check your Amazon account for any fraudulent charges. If there are any fraudulent charges, you can dispute them with Amazon, but you need to make first contact. Amazon will not call you.

    While the FTC is a branch of the Department of Justice, they typically do not call consumers to let them know they’ve been a victim of identity theft. Unfortunately, identity theft is usually only detected by the victim and not law enforcement. Also, no government or law enforcement agency will ever call you and threaten you with arrest while supposedly trying to assist you. If someone tells you to not contact the police, your best bet is to contact the police immediately.

    Lastly, no government entity is going to ask you to move your money to Bitcoin, especially if the Bitcoin ATM is at a gas station. While cryptocurrencies may have gained a modicum of mainstream acceptance, it’s nowhere near the point where the government is using it as a consumer protection platform.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 22, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , money laundering, package mule scam, , , ,   

    FBI warns of scam that could land victims in jail 

    FBI warns of scam that could land victims in jail

    By Greg Collier

    Both the FBI and the Better Business Bureau have issued a warning about a work from home scam that could have devastating consequences for its victims. They’re referring to the scam that’s called the repackaging or reshipping scam. It also goes by the name of the package mule scam.

    Scammers will advertise a work from home position as a package inspector. Applicants will be asked to receive deliveries at their place of residence. These inspectors will be asked to make sure the item they received isn’t damaged before sending the item to a third-party. Typically, the items are purchased using stolen credit card information. By the time anyone realizes the purchase has been made, the item has been shipped overseas by the unwitting package inspector. Calling this a scam almost downplays the seriousness of the matter. The reshipping scam is actually part of a larger money laundering operation.

    The reshipping scam can have several harmful outcomes for the package inspector. For example, the supposed company could pay the inspectors with a fraudulent check. The inspectors could also be asked to use that check to pay for business equipment needed for the job with the money from the fraudulent check. This would leave the inspector with a large debt to their bank they might not be able to pay. However, the most serious outcome is the one where the victim is arrested without knowing they were being scammed. If an inspector knowingly falsifies shipping documents under the instruction of the scammers to get around US customs, they could face jail time.

    The best way to protect yourself from a scam like this is with the knowledge that work from home package inspector is not a real job. Often, these scammers will pose as large companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. They’ll give the phony positions names like ‘shipping coordinator’, ‘warehouse distribution coordinator’, or ‘local hub inspector’. The FBI says corporations like this should be able to do any kind of item inspection on their own.

    If you think you may be a victim in a reshipping scam, there are steps you can take. If you’ve already received items, don’t mail them. Instead, contact the USPS Postal Inspectors at 1-877-876-2455.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 9, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: money laundering, , , ,   

    FBI warns about Valentine romance scams 

    FBI warns about Valentine romance scams

    With Valentine’s Day approaching, some are engaged in a mad rush to find a companion for the romantic holiday. Some will take to dating sites, apps, or social media in order to find a special someone to spend February 14th with, even if it’s a virtual meeting due to current social distancing guidelines. However, this is when romance scams are at their worst.

    A romance scam is when a victim meets someone online who isn’t who they say they are. The scammers will often use the photo of someone they found online, often a member of the military but not always. The scammer will lead the victim to believe that they are in some kind of romantic relationship, but the scammer will keep making excuses as to why they can’t meet in public. Usually, the scammer will say they’re either deployed overseas or they’re working out of the country. Before too long, the scammer will start asking the victim for money. In some cases the money will be or gifts, or the scammer will claim they need the money for some kind of emergency. The scammers will keep asking for money until the victim realizes they’re being scammed. The scam has been known to find victims in both men and women.

    Romance scams have become such a problem that the FBI has issued a warning for this Valentine’s Day, except this year’s scam comes with a twist. Instead of asking for money, scammers are wanting victims to use their own bank account to send money. The scammers are asking their victims for their bank account information, so they can send them money and then the victim can send the money to a third party. According to the FBI, this is essentially a money laundering scheme where the romance scam victim is an unwitting middleman. The money being laundered is said to be the money stolen in the many unemployment scams that are currently plaguing the country. Even the victims in these cases, known as money mules, could potentially face prosecution.

    Now, you may think that you’re not susceptible to romance scams, and you’re probably right. But the chances are that you might know someone who is. If you feel like someone you know might be the victim of a romance scam, please let them know before it’s too late.

     

  • Geebo 8:04 am on July 3, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , money laundering,   

    How the gift card scam actually works 

    How the gift card scam actually works

    We often discuss how so many scams often involve gift cards. They’ve become so synonymous with scams that we’ve started referring to gift cards as the currency of scammers. Basically, when someone online or over the phone asks you to make payment in gift cards, it’s almost guaranteed that you’re talking to a scammer. The reason scammers try to get payment in gift cards is that the cards can be almost immediately drained of their value while being virtually untraceable.

    Scammers don’t even need the physical card itself. Instead, scammers will get their victims to provide the code number off of the back of the card. What happens from there to get the value off of the card works almost like a heist movie.

    Recently, a woman was arrested in Central California for allegedly being part of a scam ring that dealt with gift cards. She was referred to as a runner, meaning while she didn’t run the scam but she was a part of it.

    According to reports, she would receive the card numbers from Walmart gift cards. Using the card numbers she would use her phone to create a UPC code. She would then use the UPC code at Walmart to buy gift cards from online retailers like the Apple Store, Google Play, and Steam. She would then take pictures of the numbers of the newly purchased gift cards and send them to other people involved in the scam who then cash in those cards. In this instance alone, the woman was said to be in possession of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulently obtained gift cards.

    While we may refer to it as the gift card scam for the sake of consumers, it has a more serious name when it comes to the law, money laundering. Scamming operations like this can rake in millions of dollars in a short time frame before disappearing into thin air.

    Again, if you receive a call, text message, or email and someone is pressuring you into making some kind of payment with gift cards, they’re more than likely trying to scam you.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 5, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , money laundering, , terrorism   

    The FTC doesn’t really think you’re a terrorist 

    The FTC doesn't really think you're a terrorist

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is one of the government organizations that try to protect consumers from scams. So, it’s kind of ironic that the scammers are posing as the FTC to commit one of the more disturbing scams to date. It’s a variation of the law enforcement impersonation scam. In that scam, the scammers will call you and claim to be calling from local or federal law enforcement. They’ll then tell you that they’ve found suspicious criminal activity has been connected to your financial accounts but you can pay money to make the charges go away. However, this new scam takes it one step further to scare the victim into paying.

    The FTC is warning the public that some people have received letters on official-looking FTC letterhead. The letters say that your financial account information has been linked to terrorist activity and money laundering. The letter will then be followed up with a phone call with scammers asking for money to resolve the phony issue. While the FTC hasn’t commented on this part of the scam, it’s more than likely that the scammers will then instruct the victims to purchase various gift cards to make the ‘payment’. As we have said in the past, gift cards have become the currency of scammers due to the fact that gift cards are almost always untraceable once the money is spent.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exf4iUD7gRo%5D

    The FTC says that they will only send out letters if someone writes them first. However, they will never send a threatening letter to the public. The FTC would like to remind the public that no government agency will ever ask for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. Anyone who asks for that form of payment is more than likely a scammer. If you receive one of these letters, you’re asked to contact the FTC at 1-877-FTC-HELP or their website.

     

  • Geebo 9:04 am on July 27, 2018 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , money laundering   

    New indictment against Backpage founders show how involved they were in trafficking 

    New indictment against Backpage founders show how involved they were in trafficking

    Backpage founders Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey

    This past Wednesday, a new federal indictment against Backpage and its founders was filed. In this new indictment, the charges of money laundering and facilitating human trafficking remain the same but bolsters the accusations with new evidence. While it was no secret that Backpage was allegedly a willing participant in the sex trade, this new indictment is said to show the lengths that Backpage’s operators would go to in order to make money at the expense of those trafficked.

    AZ Central has a very in-depth article that goes into great detail about the new indictment. What really got to me was how much Backpage was allegedly willing to disregard obvious signs of child sex trafficking. According to the indictment, Backpage once hired an internet safety firm who were said to have found out that ads that contained the phrase “new in town” meant an underage victim was being shuttled from town to town where the victims wouldn’t know anyone and couldn’t get any help. As you might expect, Backpage was said to have ignored this and other warnings.

    Previously, I’ve stated that I don’t think Backpage founders Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey would ever see the inside of a cell even if they were convicted. However, my mind has changed a little on that after reading more about their alleged money laundering. The indictment alleges that Lacey transferred $16.5 million to an overseas bank in an effort to conceal funds. If there’s one thing the Federal Government never wants to miss out on, it’s taxable income no matter how it was made. It was how the feds got Al Capone after all. So maybe there is some hope for justice after all.

     

  • Geebo 9:04 am on May 18, 2018 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , money laundering, mugshots.com   

    Owners of exploitative website arrested 

    Owners of exploitative website arrested

    If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of being arrested, you know how much of a harrowing experience it can be. Between prohibitive bail costs and court fees, worrying about your family, and how the arrest might affect the rest of your life, an arrest can be very devastating. Now imagine you’ve been arrested, but the charges are later dropped. The problem with that is your mugshot is still out there and a matter of public record. Sadly, there are websites out there looking to take advantage of that whether or not you’re innocent or not.

    One of those websites is Mugshots.com. The website would scour public databases looking for mugshots then would post them on their site. If you wanted to have the mugshot removed Mugshots.com would ask you for a nominal fee to have the mugshot remove, allegedly exploiting an already financially charged situation. If this sounds a lot like extortion to you the California Attorney General agrees, as the alleged owners of the site have been arrested and charged with various crimes from extortion to money laundering.

    Not everyone who’s been arrested deserves our scorn. More people are probably arrested for minor incidents such as minor traffic offenses and the like than major crimes. A lot of these people are just trying to get through their lives to put food on their family’s table and having their mugshot online like that could prevent them from doing so. So it’s only fitting that these profiteers of misfortune are about to have their mugshots plastered across the internet.

     

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