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☆ Top Arizona election official refers more cases of potential voter intimidation to law enforcement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has referred six reports of possible voter intimidation to law enforcement in the past week, as well as an allegation of harassment of an election worker, her office said Monday. The cases were referred to the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. Justice Department for further investigation. Early voting got underway Oct. 12 in the battleground state, where Hobbs is the Democratic nominee for governor. Hobbs’ office said it also referred a report of election worker harassment to law enforcement Saturday. The case is being pursued by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021.

☆ A man with a brain injury was scammed out of all of his money. He and his mother are calling on social-media companies to protect disabled people from con artists.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Westwood, who has a disability due to a brain injury, told Insider how the scam changed his life. In late July, Westwood's mother, Mary-Ellen Field, received a text message from one of Westwood's caregivers, she told Insider. Justin Westwood"Then he started asking me for money again, which usually means he's in trouble," she told Insider. It wasn't until he started asking for money for his gas bill and constantly coming over for dinner that his mom understood how little money Westwood had. Westwood told Insider that he got a message on Facebook from someone calling himself "Agent Tyson," who said he had money from the government for Westwood.

☆ Two men have been jailed for using 'SIM-swapping' to steal crypto worth $330,000
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two men were sentenced for operating a nationwide hack scheme and stealing $330,000 in crypto. Eric Meiggs, 24, and Declan Harrington, 22, used an illegal practice known as "SIM swapping." Meiggs allegedly took control of two "OG" social media accounts. In February, the FBI warned it received more than 1,600 SIM swapping reports last year — more than three times the number in 2018-2020 combined. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon offer additional PIN codes you can require for any transfer or porting of your phone number.

☆ Four U.S. states order a metaverse casino to halt sale of NFTs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Paige Tortorelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Regulators in four states simultaneously filed emergency cease-and-desist orders Thursday against virtual casino Slotie. NFTs are blockchain-based digital assets that designate ownership of virtual art, music, or in this case, proprietorship of a metaverse casino to the holder of the NFT. According to the order, 10,0000 Slotie NFTs were sold to the public. "The latest metaverse investment products — NFTs that purport to provide passive income — often bear significant undisclosed risks," he said in a statement. As a result of the order, Slotie must immediately cease and desist from selling to investors until the security is properly registered.

The AI software told banks to deny millions of legitimate purchases, at a time when consumers had been scrambling for toilet paper and other essentials. Seasonal variations, data-quality changes or momentous events - such as the pandemic - all can lead to a string of bad AI predictions. Also to blame was its AI system learning from corrupted data, the company said. Arize AI, which raised $38 million from investors last month, enables monitoring for customers including Uber, Chick-fil-A and Procter & Gamble. Zoldi said consumer habits were changing too fast to rewrite the AI system.

☆ Cyprus to revoke 10 more passports issued under discredited citizenship scheme
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File PhotoNICOSIA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Cyprus on Wednesday said it would strip citizenship from 10 individuals, among thousands who benefited from a cash-for-passports scheme which collapsed under accusations of corruption in 2020. Cyprus gave passports to more than 7,000 people under a citizenship scheme which in its final form gave citizenship to individuals investing a minimum 2 million euros. Six individuals have already had their passports revoked, Parisinou added. Two official investigations have said the scheme ran without adequate oversight, with one report suggesting some investment transactions could have been fictitious. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

An American flag waves outside the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File PhotoNEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff's victims will soon receive another $372 million to help cover their losses, nearly 14 years after the swindler's capture for running a massive Ponzi scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday. The payout from the government's Madoff Victim Fund will go to 27,219 victims, including more than 400 who had yet to recoup a penny from any source. Wednesday's payout is the eighth from the government fund, with victims recouping an average 88.35% of their losses. It originally held $4.05 billion, but has grown because the Justice Department has recovered additional assets.

☆ Covid-19 Unemployment Fraud May Have Topped $45 Billion, Watchdog Estimates
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Joseph Pisani | Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Labor Department’s inspector general’s office said $45.6 billion may have been stolen from a U.S. unemployment insurance program during the pandemic. A federal watchdog said $45.6 billion may have been stolen from a U.S. unemployment insurance program meant to help people laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of people who were dead or in prison and filed for unemployment in multiple states, the Labor Department’s inspector general’s office said in a new report. More than 1,000 people have been charged with crimes involving unemployment insurance fraud since March 2020, the report said.

☆ Scammers are using stolen credit card data to set up fake websites that charge a small monthly fee that you may never notice. Here's how to protect yourself.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers have uncovered a widespread credit card scheme that has gone undetected since 2019. Typical of many sites in the adult dating industry, the charges showed up on credit card bills with generic or official-sounding names, obscuring their origin. Newman said the scammers processed refunds in order to avoid raising alarm bells with legitimate credit card companies. He advised people to be proactive about analyzing their credit card statements for unfamiliar charges. If people suspect a charge is fraudulent, they should contact their credit card companies directly because the companies can open internal investigations, Newman said.

☆ Fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from U.S. COVID unemployment insurance program
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Shannon StapletonWASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from the United States' unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic by applying tactics like using Social Security numbers of deceased individuals, a federal watchdog said on Thursday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We determined 205,766 Social Security numbers of deceased persons were used to file claims for UI (unemployment insurance) pandemic benefits," the report added. The United States' jobless aid program started in 2020 in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. The United States is probing many fraud cases pegged to U.S. government assistance programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, unemployment insurance and Medicare. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Andrea RicciOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ben Stansall/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain is moving ahead with plans for a sweeping overhaul of its public registry of companies in a bid to transform it into an active gatekeeper of corporate information and crack down harder on "dirty money", a government source said. Companies House is Britain's public registry of companies, their directors, significant shareholders who control the business and their financial filings. Anti-corruption groups have long called for reforms to the registry to improve transparency and tackle corruption through shell firms. At the moment, companies can be owned by nominees and many do not file full financial statements. ($1 = 0.8825 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterWriting by Kirstin Ridley, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fraudsters used a fake-name generating website to steal $250 million meant for hungry children, Justice Department alleges
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

According to prosecutors, the accused exploited the federal Child Nutrition Program, which provides free or low-cost meals to impoverished children. Feeding Our Future, in turn, collected $18 million in administrative fees for disbursing that money, according to the indictment. In 2019, it dispersed $3.4 million in federal aid, according to prosecutors, rising to nearly $200 million in 2021. Those involved in the scheme, prosecutors claim, spent proceeds on travel, luxury vehicles, and property in Minnesota, Ohio, and Kentucky — as well as real estate in Turkey and Kenya. A search warrant, executed in January, accused Bock of accepting a $310,000 payment from one client, Sahan Journal reported.

☆ There's an underground market where secondhand Amazon merchant accounts are bought and sold for thousands of dollars
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Rob Price | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There's a gray market for secondhand Amazon seller accounts, an Insider investigation found. Rogue merchants buy these accounts to evade Amazon security and sell dodgy products. An Insider investigation revealed a thriving gray market for secondhand Amazon seller accounts. Such sales typically break Amazon's rules, and allow rogue sellers to evade Amazon's security and verification checks. Read Insider's full investigation into the market for second-hand Amazon seller accounts, and Amazon's failures to police its users »Got a tip?

☆ A 'dystopian horror story.' Inside the thriving underground market for used Amazon seller accounts that's causing chaos, identity theft, and distrust in the company's massive online marketplace
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Rob Price | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

On Telegram and forums like Swapd and PlayerUp, a gray market for secondhand Amazon seller accounts thrives. On public Telegram groups, Amazon account sellers openly advertise their goods and how they've passed Amazon's verification checks. She'd never had an Amazon seller account and sold jewelry directly through her website. Amazon is asleep at the wheel"Amazon is asleep at the wheel," Jason Boyce, a consultant for Amazon sellers, said. AI engineer François Chollet has been plagued by counterfeiters selling fake copies of his books via Amazon accounts with stolen identities.

☆ How an underground market for used Amazon seller accounts is wreaking havoc
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Nice :-)Today, we've got an inside look at a niche underground market for used Amazon seller accounts — one where fraudsters are wreaking havoc and raising questions about identity theft. People are being bombarded with return packages from Amazon customers. Insider spoke to six victims whose identities were used by fraudsters selling items like bargain-bin clothing and counterfeit goods. Angry Amazon customers are buying and then returning dodgy products — and in doing so, they're bombarding strangers with monthslong deluges of mystery packages. Inside the underground market for used Amazon seller accounts.

☆ 22-year-old shares nightmare of getting scammed by a fake job: 'I went from excited to devastated in a month'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Callie Heim, 22, went viral on TikTok for sharing how she got scammed by a fake job listing. Callie Heim was thrilled to start her marketing job with Waymo, the buzzy self-driving car company, earlier this summer. Heim had been scammed by a fake job listing. She was invited to a phone interview the next day, where the interviewer said the job would entail getting a computer and phone to do her job remotely. In reality, this is what's known as a fake check scam, where scammers hope you'll send them money and "reimburse" you with a bad check.

☆ The rise of the 'bait-and-switch' job interview
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

According to recruiters, employers, and job applicants interviewed by Insider, an increasing number of candidates are employing stand-ins to do their job interviews for them. At its simplest, it entails a job candidate hiring a person to pretend to be them, sit through the job interviews, and land them the position. The coworker had landed a job interview with Amazon and wanted to know whether the engineer would do the telephone interview on his behalf. Finally, for unscrupulous job candidates who are prepared to pay top dollar, there are "professional" proxies who will serve as stand-ins on job interviews — for a steep fee. Or paid someone to do a job interview for you?

☆ Scamming the boss: Some employees are outsourcing their jobs to other people. Here's how companies are spotting the fraudsters.
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-03 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

As remote work provides opportunities for fraud, some employees are outsourcing their jobs. Experts say this fraud can pose severe risks for companies, especially when the work involves confidential company and customer data. The problem for companies is when employees outsource their jobs without their organization's awareness, and pay out of their own pockets. Employers are generally powerless to do anything about these second jobs as long as they don't affect their employees' work and don't involve work for a competitor. "Every employer I talk to considers 'remote' as a location — not a work arrangement," he said, meaning remote workers must abide by the company's rules.

Evan Edwards told the officers they were headed to a conference in Texas, but he could not provide any specifics, according to the complaint. The scam and its unraveling stunned their neighbors as well as members of Evan Edwards’ extended family. “We knew we wanted to preach the gospel where it was not preached,” Evan Edwards said in a 2008 radio interview. Joy Edwards, Evan and Mary Jane Edwards, and Josh Edwards. The family moved back to Canada about 10 years ago, and Evan Edwards continued to preach, his cousin said.

☆ Don't be scammed by fake job listings
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-19 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Rachel Durose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amid the rise of the remote work era, fake job listings have increased. As employees seek remote positions, the number of fake listings has increased, and job scams are getting more sophisticated, including using social media, online outreach, and online job boards to lure in job seekers, the BBB report found. LinkedIn, the site with the second most job scams, accounted for 7% of the listings,Here's how job seekers can avoid falling victim to a fake posting. Investigate the listing, and don't be afraid to reach outThe first step to avoiding fake job listings is knowing where to look for jobs. Job seekers are also able to report suspicious job postings to the website where it was posted.

In that environment, crooks were easily able to impersonate jobless Americans using stolen identity information for sale in bulk in the dark corners of the internet. When Yvonne Matlock lost her job last year and applied for unemployment benefits online, she was told she was already getting relief money. Through a public records request, NBC News obtained data from the Labor Department, which funds Covid relief unemployment benefits programs, that are riddled with blank values and underestimates. ID.meMore than two-thirds of states, 34, reported no cases of identity theft overpayments in the most vulnerable unemployment benefits program. Cash App, which describes itself as "the easiest way to send money, spend money, save money, and buy cryptocurrency," has been frequently used by fraudsters to move money, law enforcement officials and private consultants said.

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