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Hi-Tech Criminals Target Self-Checkout Systems In The UK
Self-checkout systems in UK supermarkets are being targeted by hi-tech criminals with stolen credit card details.
A BBC investigation has unearthed a plan hatching online to loot US bank accounts via the checkout systems.
Fake credit cards loaded with details from the accounts will be used to get cash or buy high value goods.
The supermarkets targeted said there was little chance the fraudsters would make significant gains with their plan.
With the help of computer security experts the BBC found a discussion on a card fraud website in which hi-tech thieves debated the best way to strip money from the US accounts.
The thieves claim to have comprehensive details of US credit and debit cards passed to them from an American gang who tapped phone lines between cash machines and banks.
The information found by the BBC has been passed to the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit so it can investigate the ongoing fraud.
Andrew Moloney, security evangelist at RSA, said the gang were involved in "classic" card fraud by cloning details on to magnetic stripes.
He said it was an example of a long observed trend in fraud.
"We've seen a shift from card-present fraud to card-not-present to fraud abroad," he said.
"The internet is the global marketplace," he said. "It's not difficult to take compromised cards from one country and exploit them in another. It's a simple and routine procedure for these guys these days."
The discussion on the crooks' forum is a bit of a wake-up call for all those who think that the introduction of chip-and-pin in the UK has wiped out card fraud
Jacques Erasmus, from security firm Prevx, agreed that cashing out abroad was a well established method. "They do not normally cash out in the same country," he said, "just because it makes the law enforcement job that much harder."
He said many criminal gangs even offer their fraudulent services via the web. Self-checkout systems in UK supermarkets are being targeted by hi-tech criminals with stolen credit card details. ... more -
Seller of Sexual Enhancement Product Gets 25 Years in Fraud Case
A business owner convicted of defrauding customers seeking male sexual enhancement products and a variety of herbal supplements was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.
Steve Warshak, 42, founder of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, also was ordered to pay $93,000 in fines. He was convicted in February on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors accused the company of bilking customers out of more than $400 million with deceptive ads, manipulated credit card transactions and refusal to accept returns or cancel orders.
U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ordered Warshak, his mother, the company and another defendant to forfeit more than $500 million, including whatever was available from bank accounts, cars and homes, a grand piano and a membership in a California spa.
Spiegel said it was impossible to calculate exactly how much money was lost by customers, so he accepted a figure based on how much Warshak and the company took in from offenses alleged in the indictments.
Berkeley distributes various products alleged to boost energy, manage weight, reduce memory loss and aid sleep. The company's main product, Enzyte, promises sexual enhancement.
"This is a case about greed," Spiegel said as he reviewed the case. "Steven Warshak preyed on perceived sexual inadequacies of customers."
<more at link>
Smilin' Bob probably ain't smilin' any more. A business owner convicted of defrauding customers seeking male sexual enhancement products and a variety of herbal supplements was se... more -
Citibank stole $14 million from its customers!
"Nationally, the company took more than $14 million from its customers, including $1.6 million from California residents, through the use of a computer program that wrongfully swept positive account balances from credit-card customer accounts into Citibank’s general fund, Brown said.
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In July of 2001, a Citibank employee uncovered the practice and brought it to the attention of his superiors. The employee was later fired for discussing the credit sweeps with an internal audit team.
In the words of a Citibank executive, “Stealing from our customers is a business decision, not a legal decision.” The same executive later said that the sweep program could not be stopped because it would reduce the executive bonus pool, Brown charged." "Nationally, the company took more than $14 million from its customers, including $1.6 million from California residents, through... more -
Nigeria blames scam victims - anyone falling for scam should be jailed
People who fall for so-called "Nigerian scams" aren't victims at all—in fact, they're greedy and should be jailed, according to Nigerian high commissioner Sunday Olu Agbi. He said today that Nigeria has gained a bad reputation because of the scams perpetrated by a minuscule number of people, and that those who find themselves involved with the scams are equally as guilty as those running them.
"The Nigerian Government frowns very seriously on these scams... and every day tries to track down those who are involved," Olu Agbi told the Sydney Morning Herald in response to a previous article on Australians falling for Nigerian scams. "People who send their money are as guilty as those who are asking them to send the money." People who fall for so-called "Nigerian scams" aren't victims at all—in fact, they're greedy and should ... more -
Fake illness preacher Michael Guglielmucci told to go to police
"Disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci has been ordered to report to police by church officials, who will investigate what has happened to money raised during his terminal cancer deception.
The Australian Christian Churches told The Advertiser yesterday that it was auditing Mr Guglielmucci's bank accounts, which included money donated from people touched by his hit song Healer.
Mr Guglielmucci confessed his two-year fraudulent cancer battle at a national executive meeting of the ACC on Saturday, and was stripped of his credentials." "Disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci has been ordered to report to police by church officials, who will investigate what has ha... more -
Buchanan Under Fire
ANP: Congressman Vern Buchanan's campaign is under fire as former employees accuse him of corruption.
American News Project: Congressman Vern Buchanan, of the 13th district in Florida, is facing increasing trouble in his reelection campaign. A first-term congressman and a long-time autodealer, Buchanan is being sued by a remarkable number of former employees and customers at the very height of the campaign season. So far, seven separate legal complaints have been filed against Buchanan, accusing him of flouting campaign finance laws, defrauding banks and customers, and even smuggling undocumented immigrants into the country to work on his beachfront house. ANP traveled to Florida to investigate the story. ANP: Congressman Vern Buchanan's campaign is under fire as former employees accuse him of corruption. ... more -
Facebook scam artist takes money; poses as Greyhound Murder Victim's Sister
A person pretending to be the older sister of the 22-year-old man murdered on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba was fraudulently trying to collect money on a Facebook site created in B.C.
The unidentified fraudster posted messages on the social-networking site last week requesting money to be sent to a PayPal account to help the family of Winnipeg's Tim McLean, who was stabbed and beheaded July 30 while he slept on the bus about 15 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie. Vince Weiguang, 40, of Edmonton has been charged with second-degree murder.
McLean's real sister, Amanda, visited the site and discovered someone was using her maiden name to collect money."If you would like to make a donation to help our family, we have set up a PayPal account to do so. Contact for more details," wrote the fraudster on the site.
Family members contacted the RCMP and the person posing as McLean's sister was removed from the Facebook site last week. A person pretending to be the older sister of the 22-year-old man murdered on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba was fraudulently trying to c... more -
Florida GOP Congressman Vern Buchanan Facing Charges
A car salesman turned politician, who would suspect?
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Vern Buchanan, the Republican fundraiser who took over Katherine Harris's seat in southern Florida, is the fourth richest man in Congress. With assets including some fifteen auto dealerships in Florida and elsewhere, properties in several states, and offshore companies, his net worth is estimated to be well over $100 million.
First elected to Congress in 2006 by only 369 votes after a controversial recount, Buchanan is currently in a tight rematch with Democrat Christine Jennings.
But this former co-chair of the Republican National Finance Committee and top fundraiser for Jeb Bush and Senator Mel Martinez may find his career derailed by seven civil suits that were filed against him, his executives, and his dealerships over the past three months in Sarasota County and Pasco County courts.
The explosive allegations indicate that Buchanan and his dealership employees may have taken part in conspiracy, fraud, and retaliatory personnel actions. The plaintiffs, mainly former employees, describe incidents in which Buchanan and his staff appear to have violated campaign finance laws, hired undocumented workers, bilked customers, threatened employees, sent fraudulent information to banks, and misappropriated funds. Additional lawsuits are expected soon.
On August 13, the Florida Democratic Party called on the FBI and other authorities to investigate the allegations that Buchanan violated the law. But the lawsuits do not appear to be a partisan hit job. Three of the former employees who filed lawsuits--Joe Kezer, Carlo Bell, and Willie Lee--are longtime Republicans, while two others, Scott Russ and Richard Thomas, are political independents. The sixth and final plaintiff, Jeffrey Sutton, was never an employee of Buchanan's and his political affiliation could not be confirmed.
Some of these allegations have trickled into the local Florida media in recent weeks, but a fresh investigation by The Huffington Post of internal company documents, public records, and interviews with key players buttresses the plaintiffs' charges and provides a more detailed--and shocking--picture of Buchanan's apparently extensive wrongdoing.
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See above the full article and a video from The American News Project that includes interviews with people accusing Rep. Vern Buchanan of campaign finance violations.
Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. A car salesman turned politician, who would suspect? ----- ... more -
Police warn of security threat to every chip-and-Pin terminal
Police say that every chip-and-Pin terminal in the country must be checked and modified to counter a security compromise that cracked the payment system.
The disclosure comes after police issued a public warning earlier this month that gangs have developed technology to steal customer bank details from inside such terminals.
Computer Weekly has established that a programme of carrying out checks and modifications to every terminal in retailers throughout the UK began behind the scenes in July.
The massive undertaking will take months to complete, although the dedicated police unit that specialises in detecting "plastic crime" was unable to give a precise timeframe.
Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, head of the "dedicated cheque and plastic crime unit" confirmed the programme. He said, "The irony is that the system will be enhanced to make it more secure. We have been able to see the gap in the system."
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Criminals were said to be hiding devices inside terminals to reveal Pin numbers matching credit cards, as well as obtaining data to make cloned magnetic stripe cards. Although these do not work in UK cash machines, criminals can use them to withdraw money in countries that have yet to roll out chip and Pin. Police say that every chip-and-Pin terminal in the country must be checked and modified to counter a security compromise that cracked ... more -
Medvedev signs six-point truce with Georgia
The problem is, the document that Georgia signed (which Condoleezza Rice brought to Saakashvili) differs from the document brought to Russia. In a sense, this could make the agreement moot. The problem is, the document that Georgia signed (which Condoleezza Rice brought to Saakashvili) differs from the document brought to ... more
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Disability benefit cheat referee jailed
A local league football referee who claimed £17,000 in disability benefits has been jailed after being filmed officiating at matches.
Steve Paskin, from Newport, had claimed he could not walk more than a 100 yards (91m) without extreme discomfort.
But investigators caught the 46-year-old in action as a referee at several games. A local league football referee who claimed £17,000 in disability benefits has been jailed after being filmed officiating at matches. ... more -
Ex-Thai PM will remain in UK
Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he will not return to Thailand from the UK.
In a statement released to the Thai media, Mr Thaksin said he and his wife would remain in the UK, "where democracy is more important". Mr Thaksin is on bail over corruption charges but failed to make a scheduled Bangkok court appearance on Monday. Thailand's Supreme Court has now issued an arrest warrant for the billionaire, who owns Manchester City football club. Mr Thaksin says the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to remove him from politics.
The former leader had been due to return to the Thai capital on Sunday after a court allowed him to attend the Olympic Games opening in Beijing.
He and his wife - who is on bail pending an appeal after she was jailed for three years for tax fraud - were to appear before the Supreme Court in a case involving the allegedly unlawful purchase of land. Instead Mr Thaksin issued a statement announcing his decision not to return home. "What happened to me and my family and my close relations resulted from efforts to get rid of me from politics," he said in the hand-written statement.
"These are my political enemies. They don't care about the rule of law, facts or internationally recognised due process." Mr Thaksin apologised to the Thai people for his decision to live in the UK, where his daughter is attending university and where he owns several properties, as well as the Manchester City football club.
(continued at link) Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he will not return to Thailand from the UK. ... more -
Italy holds five on terror charge
Five North Africans have been arrested in Italy on charges of conspiring to commit acts of international terrorism.
Police in Bologna say they arrested four Tunisians and a Moroccan and are seeking a sixth man. They are investigating an alleged international terrorist ring, which they say recruited suicide bombers for Iraq and Afghanistan. Police raided houses and apartments in Bologna, Ravenna on Italy's Adriatic coast, and Como near Milan.
The North Africans are also charged with fraud. They are alleged to have collected money from phoney car accident insurance claims to finance their operations. They recruited and trained people willing to sacrifice their lives in terrorist attacks in war zones, the police said. The alleged leader of the terrorist ring was a former mujahideen colonel, of unknown nationality, who had fought in Bosnia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Investigators had gathered information on the activities of the terrorist group through phone taps. Five North Africans have been arrested in Italy on charges of conspiring to commit acts of international terrorism. ... more -
16-year-old boy gets rich by ripping off sex offenders
Using the same methods the police use when catching online sex offenders, a Swedish student made a clever, and seemingly stupid, move when he started advertising the 'services of young women' online. With the offer of these live shows, he managed to scam a fair few people's bank account details.
But it gets better. So much better.
He then began to email the subscribers from a different account, claiming to be a police investigator, asking (now for the second time) for the users bank info and access codes. Who, I assume, were more than happy to oblige seeing as the the kid got away with over $10,000. He was only caught after someone tipped off the police, apparently risking their own cover.
And for all of this, he received 80 hours of community service. Using the same methods the police use when catching online sex offenders, a Swedish student made a clever, and seemingly stupid, move ... more -
OxyContin bust nets 56 Miami-Dade government employees
Fifty-six government employees -- including a police officer, a felony court clerk, two corrections officers and 27 school bus drivers and attendants -- were arrested in a scam that used health insurance information to fraudulently obtain prescriptions for the painkiller OxyContin, authorities said Wednesday.
Sixty-two people were arrested in total and all face charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and grand theft, according to the Miami-Dade state attorney's office.
Authorities estimate 130 medically unnecessary prescriptions for OxyContin -- more than 12,000 tablets -- were presented to pharmacies. The drugs have an estimated street value of $400,000, prosecutors said.
OxyContin is a popular painkiller, delivering an instant "high" when it is crushed or dissolved and ingested.
The scam began in January 2003, when six "recruiters" enlisted a group of people, most of them employees of local government, to participate in the ring, according to prosecutors.
Those employees provided their health insurance identification information, and with that information they obtained unnecessary prescriptions for OxyContin from another codefendant, who was a physician, authorities said.
The defendants filled those prescriptions at pharmacies and sold the pills for cash to another codefendant, authorities said.
In addition, prosecutors said, the defendants submitted claims to their insurance companies for reimbursement for the OxyContin prescriptions.
"There can never be an excuse for helping put dangerous drugs onto our streets," said Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Miami-Dade state attorney. "When public employees are a part of the problem and when public medical benefits are used to make the scheme work, these are shameful events. They are also crimes."
Among those arrested, according to authorities, were:
• 17 Miami-Dade County Public Schools bus drivers
• 10 Miami-Dade County Public Schools bus attendants
• Six city of Miami Department of Solid Waste employees
• Five Miami-Dade County Public Schools security officers
• Three Miami-Dade County Public Schools custodians
• Two Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation corrections officers
• Two Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher assistants
• Two Miami-Dade County Transit bus drivers
• One city of Hialeah police officer
• One city of Miami crane operator
• One Miami-Dade County Circuit Court felony clerk
• One Helen B. Bentley Family Health Center driver
• One Miami-Dade County Human Services data entry specialist
• One Miami-Dade County Human Services employee (other)
• One Miami-Dade County General Services Administration employee
• One Department of Children and Families employee
• One former employee of Family Christian Services Fifty-six government employees -- including a police officer, a felony court clerk, two corrections officers and 27 school bus drivers... more -
Pastor kills elderly millionaire to cover theft
The agricultural museum that the Rev. Howard Douglas Porter had promised to establish using the old man's life savings wasn't being built, so one day Les Orr drove 85-year-old Frank Craig to the site. There, behind Hickman Community Church, where Porter was the pastor, stood nothing but an empty grass lot.
Porter, 57, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder, embezzlement, elder abuse and attempted murder. By the time the verdict was read, the once-lively town debate of whether Porter was to blame for Craig's death had become one-sided, and most people, residents said, seemed resigned to a guilty verdict.
Prosecutors say Porter had staged two car wrecks, one in 2002 that left Craig unable to walk and the other in 2004 that killed him, to cover up that he was stealing money from the man he had befriended.
Prosecutor John Mayne outlined Porter's questionable spending of Craig's $1.1 million fortune and revealed that in the first wreck the passenger-side air bag had been disabled. Part of the sum Porter stole from Craig financed a housing compound for his extended family in nearby LaGrange. The agricultural museum that the Rev. Howard Douglas Porter had promised to establish using the old man's life savings wasn'... more -
US claims informant is fraud boss
A former informant of the US secret service has been accused of being the ringleader in the country's biggest and most complex identity theft case.
The US Department of Justice claims that Albert "Segvev" Gonzalez and 10 others stole, and then sold more than 40 million bank card numbers.
They allegedly got the data by driving around, finding vulnerable internet networks, and accessing shop records.
Prosecutors said the alleged fraud was an "international conspiracy".
"During the course of the sophisticated conspiracy Mr Gonzalez and his co-conspirators....hacked into wireless computer networks of major retailers," said the US Department of Justice.
The method, known as "wardriving", involves tracking down vulnerable internet wireless signals and using systems to decipher credit and debit card information from a retailer's system.
Read more... A former informant of the US secret service has been accused of being the ringleader in the country's biggest and most complex id... more -
Tired? Lazy? Buy your sick note on the internet!
An online company is planning to sell fake doctors' sick notes that would allow people to take more time off.
The notes, available from www.doctorsnotestore.com, cost about $38 each and are already available in Britain, with delivery promised in 48 hours.
Medical authorities are warning employees against using the new service. "It is clearly inciting and abetting fraud," said Wayne Herdy, a doctor and lawyer from the Australian Medical Association in Queensland state. "It's a matter that even the police should be looking at," he told the Australian Associated Press.
While the products look "extremely authentic," the company said the notes are meant to be used as novelty items and not for any illegal purpose. "We are not responsible for misuse of our products. Please use our products with caution and care," the website says. An online company is planning to sell fake doctors' sick notes that would allow people to take more time off. ... more -
Hospitals used homeless in Medicare fraud
They allegedly used Los Angeles skid row homeless to fill empty beds and boost revenue. A federal grand jury has indicted 2 figures in the case, and L.A. City Atty. Delgadillo announces civil litigation.
FBI agents served search warrants this morning on three hospitals as part of an investigation into alleged Medicare fraud involving homeless patients who were recruited from skid row.
Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, an owner and the chief executive of City of Angels Medical Center, and Estill Mitts, an alleged patient recruiter, were indicted by a federal grand jury last week on 21 counts of healthcare fraud, money laundering and income tax evasion.
At the same time, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced civil litigation against the three hospitals and their operators in what officials said was a "scheme to defraud the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs out of millions of dollars."
Beginning at 8 a.m., agents working with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service and the California Department of Justice raided City of Angels Medical Center, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center and Tustin Hospital and Medical Center. They allegedly used Los Angeles skid row homeless to fill empty beds and boost revenue. A federal grand jury has indicted 2 figures in... more -
11 Charged in Global ID Theft Ring
Eleven people, including a U.S. Secret Service informant, have been charged in connection with the hacking of nine major retailers and the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Eleven people, including a U.S. Secret Service informant, have been charged in connection with the hacking of nine major retailers and... more
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