Tag: FRAUD

Not too long ago, 22-year-old Sealtiel Chacon Zepeda, from Beaverton, Oregon, began cooking up a scheme to copy gift cards from local stores. He knew he couldn't just swipe the cards and run, since they would need to be activated by a cashier before he could use them. So, he decided to clone them instead -- at the direct expense of consumers. After performing 20 hours of online research, Zepeda ...

Share If you wanna spend your days sending disparaging text messages to yourself, that's fine. But if you do it and tell the police that the threats are coming from someone else, that's actually pretty illegal -- and pretty pathetic. Santa Ana, California's Jeanne Mundango Manunga, you see, clearly had some pretty serious beef with her ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law. Instead of punching a ...

Users of an ATM outside a cigarette shop in Beijing were surprised to find that, shortly after dipping their bank cards into the kiosk, their accounts were emptied out. The ATM wasn't hacked, but rather completely fake. The full-sized device bore all the familiar trappings of an ATM, such as credit card logos and a cash slot, and was set up in an otherwise empty glass room in the corner of the ...

Several public and private entities have teamed up to battle online fraud by creating a streamlined method to report it. According to Ars Technica, Internet Fraud Alert is a service that makes it easier for security researchers to report the stolen consumer data they find online. For example, if a researcher finds a stash of stolen credit card numbers posted on the Net, he or she reports the find ...

Preying on the devotion of horror-movie loyalists, a Georgia man has been selling fake movie posters on eBay for years. According to The New York Times, Kerry Haggard was finally arrested Wednesday on mail fraud charges for using high-tech inkjet printers, housed at a New York printing company, to create reproductions of vintage horror movie posters to sell. Haggard sold posters ranging in price ...

Share With tax season nearing a close, scammers are boosting efforts to steal sensitive information from people trying to file their taxes at the last minute. According to USA Today, a flurry of fake tax forms recently showed up in inboxes, on Twitter and as search results on the Web. Examples include an advertisement or malicious link, which could request your Social Security number or login ...

In an effort to combat ticket fraud, the world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, is testing digital wristbands that could replace paper tickets. According to BBC News, the wristbands, which have already been used at small music festivals in the U.K., come loaded with a unique "smart chip." By preloading the chips with personal information, Live Nation ensures music fans don't purchase a ...

In New York City, a cab driver can be your best friend, regaling you with tales about the Big Apple of yore, and blasting Boston for an epic sing-along. He or she can also be your worst enemy by innocently proclaiming the credit card machine is "broken" after the ride has ended, forcing you to trek to an ATM, and thus allowing him to get off tax-free. Apparently, however, the truly seedy side of ...

In an effort to save money and gain support for health care reform, President Barack Obama is calling in the nerds. According to an Associated Press report, Obama said Tuesday that he's hiring a group of private "bounty hunters" to crack down on health care fraud, particularly those cases pertaining to Medicare and Medicaid. They won't be armed with mullets and pepper spray like TV badass Dog, ...

As aid pours from the coffers of international organizations and individuals, and into the earthquake-ravaged island of Haiti, some scumbag scammers are reportedly looking to take advantage of these donors, hoping to make a parasitic buck off of the tragedy. As FOX News reports, the devastating aftermath of Tuesday's massive quake has seen not only a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, but ...

Just when we think we've heard about the dumbest criminal on this planet, another story breaks and leaves our mouths agape. With this latest one, we almost don't know where to start. Let's preface it with this: If you're going to scam a celebrity, you better bring your A-game. Unfortunately, a group of UK-based, bungling criminals didn't even bring their D-game. According to The Sun, British ...

Back a few months ago, swine flu scams and misinformation plagued Twitter accounts. While the hysteria surrounding the disease has calmed somewhat, there are still foul folks out there trying to make a quick buck by capitalizing on fear. According to Newsvine, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has discovered and warned creators of more than 140 products that falsely claim to combat H1N1, ...

Remember the story about the New Zealand authorities who located a fugitive couple, thanks to the misguided Facebook status of their relative? While that mistake was out of the criminals' hands, Maxi Sopo made his own bed with the social networking site. In 2003, Sopo went from selling roses in Seattle nightclubs to committing bank fraud, making him about $200,000 richer. A natural career ...

The FBI has busted up a major spam and bank fraud ring that spanned from coast to coast, and even had ties to Egypt. Fifty-three suspects in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Charlotte, North Carolina have been indicted, with dozens of them already in police custody. An additional 47 Egyptian suspects have been named, and authorities there are working to apprehend them now. The scam centered around ...

Oreo, a two-year-old tuxedo cat from Macon, Georgia, may be the very first one in her family to receive a high-school diploma. She can't verify that, though, because she doesn't have extensive knowledge of her family history. As she wrote in the 'Life Experience Essay' portion of her accreditation, she was adopted by Kelvin Collins, the president of the Better Business Bureau of Central ...