One of the oldest social engineering techniques (sex) still seems to work!

Some would argue that sex is one of the oldest social engineering ploys to deceive someone into doing something they normally wouldn't do. As far as I know, it's been being used since biblical times.Roderick Ordoñez at the Trend Labs Malware Blog (Trend Micro) is reporting that malware is being downloaded on systems using a mysterious woman named Melissa, who strips off her clothing (in increments) when a user puts in the right CAPTCHA code.CAPTCHA codes are those annoying letters and numbers, we have to enter in a box to prove we are human.From...

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The FTC Fraud Department didn't really send you that phishmail

Phishing attempts spoofing (impersonating) government agencies aren't anything new. Here again, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is being used as a badge of authority to trick people into downloading something that is likely to steal their personal and financial details.From the FTC press release about this most recent occurrence: A bogus email is...

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13 percent of the U.S. population were fraud victims, according to the FTC

More than one out of ten people fell victim to a fraud scheme last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Of even greater interest was the fact that weight-loss scams came out number one, over lottery and buyers-club scams.From the FTC press release on this:The Federal Trade Commission today released a statistical survey of fraud in the United States that shows that 30.2 million adults – 13.5 percent of the adult population – were victims of fraud during the year studied. More people – an estimated 4.8 million U.S. consumers – were victims...

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Counterfeit Document Gang Jefe(s) "Chiefs" charged with murder, racketeering and conspiracy

Recent picture of Suad Leija taken at an undisclosed location. Although not mentioned in many of the articles about this arrest, Suad is responsible for providing a lot of the information used in this latest indictment. Her story has been covered in the mainstream media by Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn, Fox, CNN, La Opinion and Univision.Operation Paper Tiger,...

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Is Myexcusedabsence.com a counterfeiting mill for dishonest employees?

Just about when you think you've seen everything on the Internet, someone comes up with something so outlandish that a reasonable person has to question it's legality.Jessica K. Brown (AP) is reporting on a website that allows anyone to counterfeit (my term) excuses to provide to an employer.From the AP article (courtesy of the Washington Post):For about $25, students and employees can buy excuse notes that appear to come from doctors or hospitals. Other options include a fake jury summons or an authentic-looking funeral service program complete...

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As Southern California burns, watch out for charity scams!

A sad commentary on how some people react to a disaster are the amount of scams that surface as a result of them.The Postal Inspectors are warning us that we are likely to see a lot of these scams appear as a result of the Southern California fires. If you are one of the good people out there, who intends to lend some financial support, it is a wise...

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Payment card fraud victims being denied compensation

Apparently, fraudsters are now able to clone some payment cards, assign a new PIN -- and it appears that the customer's old PIN was used when the bank reviews the transactions.Card Guide (UK) is reporting:The Chip and Pin technology that has been in use in the UK over recent years is supposed to be practically fraud proof, but this is not the case, as thieves can clone cards and put a new PIN number onto the card – this is known as a YES card.However, it appears to the bank that the original card and PIN have been used, and therefore banks claim...

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Scammers trick grocery chain into sending them $10 million

(Photo courtesy of rcbatey at Flickr)Normally, when e-mail scams are brought up, we think of unfortunate individuals falling for something that's too good to be true. A surprising discovery, found in federal court filings, proves that this isn't always the case.Yesterday, Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press (courtesy of the StarTribune.com) reported:Supervalu...

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USPIS Presents: Work@Home Scams: They Just Don't Pay!

The United States Postal Inspectors have produced a pretty telling video showing how Internet criminals lure people into taking jobs that will cause them financial and legal trouble. The film entitled, Work@Home Scams: They Just Don't Pay shows what happens to people, who accept work-at-home jobs that aren't what they appear to be.It also speaks to how this problem has grown from ads in the classified section of newspapers and magazines to being plastered all over the Internet.A lot of us probably see spam e-mails offering these too good to be...

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How much money is lost by businesses due to coupon fraud?

Here is an interesting blurb about an Arby's employee, who stole $14,524 by using coupons to conceal the fact he was dipping into the till.NBC10.com (Philadelphia) is reporting:A fast-food restaurant employee was charged with theft after police said he was skimming the cash register by using coupons.Curtis Smith, 32, of Coatesville, was an employee at the Arby's store located on Concord Pike for several years, police said.Police said Smith used $1 off coupons at the register and would then take that money from the register. He obtained between...

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P2P under Congressional scrutiny - FTC to investigate

Although there are legitimate uses for P2P (peer to peer) software, there is no doubt that there are a lot of dangers to using it, also.Officially, the concerns are how this exposes people to identity theft -- but this costs the entertainment industry (who probably have a few lobbyists dedicated to this matter) a lot of money when they don't get their royalties (money) on music and videos -- which people download for free using P2P.Now Congress is asking the Federal Trade Commission to take a deeper look into the matter.Still worried that peer-to-peer...

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Krackin software will crack your computer's security!

(Screen shot courtesy of Websense)Krackin is one place you don't want to try to download music, or videos. The result will be your computer becoming what is known as a zombie, which will be used to spew out spam e-mails, which facilitate Internet fraud.If you have clicked on this, I highly recommend reading the link in Websense's alert, which I have...

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Student narrowly escapes expulsion for revealing data breach

It might be a good idea to be careful (or extremely anonymous), when reporting a data breach.Jaikumar Vijayan at Computer World is reporting an interesting case -- where reporting a data breach brought about some personal grief for both the person, who reported it -- and the person they reported it to.This person, who was a student, was almost expelled for bringing the matter to light. And the person, who it was reported to is no longer employed.I guess whistle-blower laws don't apply at institutions of higher-learning?For more information on whistle-blower...

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Schwarzenegger vetoes data breach bill

It appears the data breach bill, which went to Governor Schwarzenegger's desk for signature has been vetoed.Cheryl Walker at the OC Register is reporting:An ID theft protection bill that would have made businesses that take credit cards for purchases more accountable to consumers and card issuers was vetoed Saturday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.In a message explaining his veto of AB779, the governor claimed the marketplace already provides the necessary protections for consumers and that the state bill might conflict with private security standards.He...

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Why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might not want transparency in Iran's financial dealings

Over the weekend, the press has been awash with a story that Iran is refusing to adhere with International money laundering standards.It appears Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his motley crew of religious extremists don't want anyone looking at their money flow "too closely." My guess is that it might reveal that some of the money is coming from questionable sources.From the AFP:The United States Friday welcomed action by an international anti-money laundering watchdog urging Iran to close loopholes in its financial system and take steps to limit terrorist...

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ICE nails foreign gang members in 19 States

(Map of arrest locations courtesy of the ICE website)Recently, I wrote about how counterfeit documents enable all kinds of undesirable people to blend into our communities. The point of the article was that these documents are used by more than hard working illegal immigrants seeking a better life for themselves and their families.ICE issued a press...

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Resources to avoid those dangerous Chinese products

There has been a lot in the news lately about dangerous Chinese products. At this point, there seems to be too many of them for the average person to keep up on.I happened to be taking a look at Lou Dobbs' site and found some great resources that the average person can use to determine, whether or not, they are making a safe buying decision.Since there doesn't seem to be enough oversight by our government to ensure our safety, I highly recommend taking matters into your own hands. Especially with the holiday season rapidly approaching.On the site,...

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Operation Paper Tiger - the true story, which reveals why our borders aren't very secure!

(Mohammed Atta of 9/11 infamy used counterfeit documents to get this legitimate Florida Driver's License. Counterfeit documents used to get legitimate ones are known as "feeder documents.")Border security has become a major concern for all us ever since 9/11 revealed how vulnerable we really are.Counterfeit documents paved the way for the terrorists...

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The continuing saga of Vladuz and Phishing on eBay

Here is an update to the ongoing saga of Vladuz versus eBay. Apparently, Vladuz, or someone claiming to be him, accessed eBay's servers and suspended some eBay accounts.Ina Steiner reports on the AuctionBytes blog:eBay confirmed that a known fraudster had limited access to a very small number of eBay accounts on the eBay.com site and the company appeared to have reacted quickly to block him on Friday. eBay spokesperson Nichola Sharpe said, "At no point did the fraudster get any access to financial information or other sensitive information." In...

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The somewhat slow response to the hacking of California.gov

With all the technology that California is famous for, you would think their government websites were state of the art, when it comes to security.Apparently, this is NOT the case. The result has been a lot of misdirection to sites of a pornographic nature.Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software, has been blogging on this subject:Yesterday, we reported on a federal shutdown of “ca.gov” sites to fix a hack.Well, we have a little more information on this. It was the Marin County government website that started all of this — something we reported...

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MyTruston -- where you can see if someone is stealing your identity for free!

You won't get a million dollar guarantee and Tom Fragala's social security number if you decide to use myTruston identity theft prevention/recovery services. You also aren't going to get the paid endorsements for his product by Fred Thompson, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Howard Stern.Tom, who is the CEO/Founder of MyTruston doesn't believe in buying...

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Retailers call for a level playing field on data security

The data breach at TJX, which compromised approximately 45 million people has spawned a looming battle between retailers and the financial industry. At stake is who will bear the future costs of data breaches, which are becoming more expensive than ever before.Thus far, we've seen legislation introduced to hold retailers responsible and calls for PCI data security standards. Legislation has been passed in Minnesota and is awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger's signature in California.In any disagreement, there are two sides to a story -- and now the...

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How was Mayor Bloomberg's BofA account jacked?

Here is a clear case, which shows that just about anyone can have their financial identity compromised. In this case, the victim is none other than the mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg.This story is getting a lot of coverage, but no one is saying (if they know) how Mayor Bloomberg's financial information was compromised.The New York Times (Sewell Chan) reported:One man, Odalis Bostic, was indicted for trying to steal $420,000 from the mayor. According to prosecutors, Mr. Bostic created the Laderman Development Company in Elizabeth,...

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