Paper weapons (counterfeit documents) enable more serious crimes than illegal immigration and identity theft

Suad LeijaCounterfeit (forged) documents are used by illegal immigrants, financial crime artists (fraudsters) and even terrorists. 9/11 proved this a few years back - when it was discovered that several of the hijackers (terrorists) used forged documents to obtain legitimate state-issued driver's licenses.And this can't be the only time terrorists...

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How people's credit can be ruined by a mortgage fraudster

The terms mortgage fraud and identity theft keeping popping up in the same stories. Hard to believe that someone could buy real estate with another person's identity, but it seems to be happening more and more often.Another good argument that people should review their credit report on a regular basis.Before getting involved in a real estate deal that might be "too good to be true," it might be a good idea to educate yourself and make sure you've done all your homework.USA Today interviewed a convicted fraudster - who openly talks about how he...

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Congress needs to take a hard look at credit practices

Right before Christmas, the Consumers Union spearheaded a campaign calling for credit card reforms. It now appears as if some of the issues they surfaced are being looked into by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.And Consumers Union isn't alone - a lot of other consumer groups are pretty much calling for the same kind of corrective action for the industry, here.But it's not only consumer groups that are up in arms. Merchants seem to be, also.The Merchants Payment Coalition is also applauding this development and is calling...

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TJX's stolen data is being used - 200,000 accounts identified, so far

My guess is that the recent TJX data breach will prove to be the largest on record. Several sources are already reporting data from this breach is being used to commit fraud.The Boston Globe is reporting:The Massachusetts Bankers Association said yesterday that several banks reported fraud linked to debit and credit card numbers pilfered from TJX's computer system for unauthorized purchases made in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana in the United States, and Hong Kong and Sweden overseas.Middlesex Savings Bank is reissuing at least 20,000 Visa debit...

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Symantec warns of newsletters and "legitimate" advertising being hijacked!

Viagra with your Fantasy Football?Spam is getting worse than ever, and a lot of spam filters don't seem to be stopping it. Even worse, legitimate mail is being designated as "spam" and placed in "bulk folders."I find myself having to review my "bulk folder," daily.Symantec is reporting a new "sneaky" spam tactic being seen out there. Legitimate newsletters...

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Small Businesses are often the victims of financial misdeeds

Large businesses often employ dedicated experts to protect their assets. Unfortunately, smaller business can't afford these resources, and therefore are more vulnerable to fraud losses.And it's easier for these larger businesses to write-off their fraud losses. The sad truth is that - if not managed properly - fraud losses can put a smaller business "out of business."The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners noted in the 2006 report to the nation that small businesses seem to suffer "disproportionate fraud losses," when compared to larger organizations.I...

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People are getting tired of having their personal and financial information stolen

Are people beginning to get sick and tired of discovering that their personal and financial information has been exposed?Employees at Xerox are picketing their office in Oregon because it took four months for anyone to be notified that a Human Resource's Manager lost a laptop with their personal information on it.Many of the employees (rightfully feel) that an offer of "free credit monitoring services" is coming four months too late, and are wondering why their information was stored on a laptop?KOIN 6 News story, here.With the news that TJX has...

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McAfee reports on worldwide identity theft trends

Although, identity theft has become a global issue, there are very few studies that put the trends together from a global perspective.Since identity theft can travel thousands of miles with the click of a mouse (or with the use of automated software), we could learn a lot by studying the problem as a whole.McAfee has just released a white paper, which does this.From the McAfee site:According to the report, the number of keyloggers - malicious software code that tracks typing activity to capture passwords and other private information - has increased...

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Does eBay now see fraud protection as an important part of their continued profitability?

There has been a lot written about fraud on auction sites, particularly eBay. Perhaps, with all the competition going after their "extremely profitable business model," they are reconsidering the importance of preventing fraud on their site?Mark Raby of the TG Daily writes:During a webcasted conference with some of the online auction site's top sellers, eBay's North America president Bill Cobb expressed concern over the rise of people who don't ship out items or list counterfeit merchandise as real, along with people who have found more clever...

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Has a lot of money been lost because of fraud, waste and abuse in Iraq?

There is no doubt that the war in Iraq has cost the taxpayer's a lot of money. Many brave young and women have even paid a greater price.Jim Fry (Voice of America) is reporting:"Government auditors told Congress Thursday that waste and fraud in the reconstruction of Iraq have been rampant. They predict they will uncover losses in the billions of dollars. Key Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee demanded an accounting within two months."Voice of America story, here.There are going to be some, who claim that this is political posturing...

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TJX named as point-of-compromise in International data breach - millions of people at risk!

Data breaches are happening at an alarming rate. Until some meaningful action is taken to address them, such as following already established principles (data and PCI security compliance), we're probably going to see them continue.Reuters is reporting (courtesy of the Washington Post):TJX said the breach involves the computer network that handles credit card, debit card, check and return transactions at its T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright stores in the United States and Puerto Rico; and its Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada.It...

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Will a hot-line being staffed 24 hours solve the fraud problem in Los Angeles?

A story recently hit the press about Los Angeles County (potentially) losing $2 billion a year to fraud. That's a lot of taxpayer money!This dollar figure was "estimated" (using Association of Certified Fraud Examiner statistics), which say that 5 percent of all revenues (generic) are lost to "employee fraud, waste and abuse." Nonetheless, there have been a lot of recent allegations of "too much fraud" occurring in Los Angeles County.The problem with any fraud statistic is that the intention of the people - who commit financial misdeeds (fraud)...

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A new work-at-home business that scams everyone!

With the recent raids on Swift by ICE - a lot of people have wondered how much phony identification is out there. The most recent story about this is out of the Toronto area, where a large counterfeiting ring was discovered in a residential neighborhood.The home based business was producing counterfeit identification, credit cards, government benefit cards and passports. In other words, they were making anything a criminal, illegal alien, or terrorist would desire - right out of a private home.The City News (Toronto) is reporting:The hunt began...

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OCC is warning the public about counterfeit cashier's checks

I've written a lot about counterfeit cashier's checks, which have spread via the Internet in a number of different scams. Known scams include winning the lottery, secret shopping, overpayment for an item sold on an auction site, or assisting a romantic interest found in a chat-room.The people who do this are creative and you never know what new "scam...

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Does anyone know - whether or not - check fraud is on the rise?

I sometimes wonder - whether or not - anyone really knows how much check fraud is out there?Law enforcement jurisdictions often have dollar amounts (some fairly high), which must be met before a case is actively investigated - causing it to be recorded as a statistic. And in the private sector - a lot of NOT very "clear reasons" are used to return checks, which might or (might not) mean fraud.My two favorites reasons the banks use to return checks are "refer to maker" and "stop payment." This might mean someone was unhappy with a service that was...

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New phishing rod being marketed on Internet crime forums

A new and more dangerous "phishing rod" is being marketed and sold in Internet crime forums. This assures that this "phishing rod" will be readily available to all sorts of "i-jackers" (identity theives).DigitalTransactionNews is reporting:RSA Security Inc. on Wednesday announced its analysts had discovered a powerful new phishing tool fraudsters are selling via online forums and using to hoodwink consumers. The tool, which RSA calls a “universal man-in-the-middle phishing kit,” allows phishers to set up a URL that can interact in real time with...

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Will competition make it harder to write off fraud costs on auction sites?

Perhaps market forces will be what it takes to better protect buyers and sellers from fraud on auction sites? Competition dictates that the auction providers will have to offer a "better deal" to attract and maintain their customer base.Internet auctions have become a "very" popular way to buy and sell goods, but they've also attracted a lot of fraud. And fraud seems to be motivating some changes at the most popular auction site, eBay.eBay is limiting what types of transactions they protect and is banning Google's Checkout on it's site. In addition...

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With all the data breaches - something needs to be done!

There have been a lot of large data breaches in the past year, where anonymous sources pointed to a retailer (merchant) as the point-of-compromise. Of course - as in most data breaches -rumors are often "downplayed" and in some instances, denied.Card processors have been accused of maintaining information they shouldn't have, also.The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse maintains a chronology of these incidents data breaches since 2005, which can be viewed, here.And a business would have good reason not to disclose everything. It could create a lot of...

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Is Bashing DHS for the Swift Raids Fair?

Suad Leija (courtesy of YouTube)Recently, there were a lot of people bashing DHS because of the raids at the Swift meat packing plants. There were allegations that only 65 of those "detained" were charged with crimes, and that everyone else was "hard working and innocent." Of note, the associated press just reported that this number is up to 220,...

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Should cats be issued credit cards?

In order to protect her privacy, my daughter used to use the dog's name to register on websites fond of data mining personal information (smart kid). Shortly thereafter, our dog (Oliver) started receiving a lot of junk mail. Included were pre-approved offers for credit-cards.All of this correspondence went directly into a shredder and we had a good laugh about it. I had to "coach" my daughter not to use our "actual address" and the problem stopped.Now Reuters is reporting that a woman in Australia used her cat's name to apply for a secondary credit-card,...

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Medical Identity Theft Could Kill

Recently, I've seen a lot written about Medical Identity Theft. There seems to be a lot of people getting bills for medical procedures they never received and subsequently going through a lot of "pain and suffering" to clear their good names.And (it seems) organized criminal are getting involved in the activity, probably because it's a "profitable" enterprise with little danger of getting caught.BusinessWeek online did an interesting article about this, where they said:Yet the thief isn't always an individual desperately needing medical care. In...

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