Hello from FrankonFraud,

Your source for breaking intel on fraud each week. The top stories that caught my eye this week. 👀 

• SAR Filings broke a record in 2023

• Fraud Tops A Staggering $500 Billion Globally

• How Walmart Became a Fraud Magnet

• The UN Puts Tether On Blast

• A terrifying scam letter is making the rounds

• Deloitte auditors miss a major fraud scandal

• Backdated primary tradelines are the synthetic wave

• AI Voice clone scam was 100% convincing

• Dumb scammer calls the Sheriff he was impersonating

• A Guy deep fakes girlfriend to take a test

• You are needed to help take down bad websites

Let’s get to the top stories!

SAR Filings Top 4.5 Million, Breaking Record

SAR filings continue to defy imagination, rising ever higher each year. For 2023, filings hit 3.8 million, which beat the prior record of 3.6 million last year.

Jim Richards, who knows a lot about these filings, says that doesn’t paint the true picture, however. According to him, “FinCEN doesn't report the number of corrected/amended SARs or so-called "continuing activity" SARs. Between them, these two types of SARs account for about 20% of what is disclosed in the SAR Stats.

So, the actual number of all SARs filed in 2023 is probably closer to 4.5 million!

Telegram Fraudsters Hate Check Holds

What is the one thing that seems to irritate a Telegram fraudster more than anything?

The Answer? 👉️ Holding funds on the checks for seven days or more. While browsing one of Telegram’s biggest fraud channels, it’s obvious that a strong hold policy is an amazing deterrent to check fraud.

Some things I learned about these check fraudsters 👇️ 

• they know every bank’s hold policies

• they go to the Tellers when checks are held

• they are looking for Inny’s at banks to release holds

• they target banks that don’t have strong hold policies

But mostly, fraudsters hate those hold policies. And from the look of it, Chase seems to be the one they hate the most!

Check out some of the snippets 👇️ 

Staggering $3 Trillion In Financial Crime Reported For 2023 🤯

Nasdaq released an explosive report on global fraud which paints a very grim picture. We experienced a staggering $500 billion in fraud and over $3 trillion in illicit funds flowed through the economy.

Guess what was specifically called out as a key issue? Check Fraud in the US 🔥 . We account for over 80% of check fraud losses globally.

This graphic shows how fraud broke out globally.

This is a very good report that details out the financial and human impact of financial crime.

Fraudsters’ Love Affair With Tether StableCoin

The United Nations says that Tether has become the payment method of choice for scammers.

Tether market cap is soaring and has reached over $100 billion - most of that might be propped up by crime and money laundering.

This Scam Letter Would Get My Attention If I Didn’t Know Better

A terrifying letter is making the rounds and getting many people scammed out of their hard-earned money.

A Redditor posted this alert to the scam channel advising that they had received a notice from the Social Security Administration that their SSN was about to be suspended because they engaged in criminal activity and money laundering.

These criminal scammers are escalating the fear factor in 2024. These are just getting better and better.

How Did Deloitte Auditors Miss This Obvious Massive Fraud?

Hindenburg Research, known for sniffing out corporate scams, took aim in June at an obscure Nigeria-based outfit named Tingo Group.

Hindenburg rolled out a report with a title that left little to the imagination: “Fake Farmers, Phones, and Financials – The Nigerian Empire That Isn’t.” But Hindenburg didn’t just call Tingo a clear-cut scam. The short-seller also spotlighted the auditor who green-lit Tingo’s financials, challenging its competence and perhaps its willingness to see the truth.

So, how did Deloitte miss this obvious scandalous fraud? Forbes answers that question.

Click This Link Or Image Below To Read The Article

The Backdated Tradelines Hack Is The Latest Synthetic Identity Wave

Hoodrich Credit says the best way to get high-limit credit cards from Chase is to buy one of his “backdated primary tradelines”

These are not authorized user accounts but primary tradelines that make it look like the synthetic identity owned the account.

I have been alerting on this issue for over a year. Banks must realize that authorized tradelines are no longer what credit repair gurus use. They have found a way to exploit Metro2 reporting to put real tradelines on synthetic bureaus. I posted the video on my newsletter, only to find out his Youtube account was terminated! 👇️ 

So I found another credit repair YouTuber who shows proof of how they had a $78,000 primary auto trade from Westlake. Check that one out here.

He recommends this company 👉️ DirectTradelinesInc for buying some of these falsified primary tradelines.

Watch out for these primary tradelines, They are everywhere now on synthetic identities!

Where is My Son? Terrorized By An AI Voice Clone

Another voice clone scam out of San Francisco terrorized the parents of Will Trapp.

“It was my son’s voice on the phone crying, telling me, ‘Mom, mom, I’ve been in a car accident!’ ’’ Trapp said. Instantly, she felt a rising panic. Images of her son flashed through her mind: him lying on the side of the road in a pool of blood or trapped in an overturned car.

After speaking to the person she thought was her son for 30 or 45 seconds, a man who said he was a police officer got on the phone. He told Trapp her son had run a stop sign while on his phone and had hit another car. He had suffered a broken nose and a neck injury but would be OK. But the pregnant woman in the other car had been taken away, bleeding, the police officer said.

Click This Link To Read The Full Article

Lol. Dumb Scammer Calls The Sheriff He Was Impersonating 😆 

I guess the odds of this happening are 1 billion to 1.

A dumb scammer called South Carolina Sheriff Sgt Kevin Casey pretending to be… you guessed it - Sgt Kevin Casey.

And apparently, he wasn’t the only one. In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said the “diabolical scammer” tried calling at least five people on the same day.

DeepFake (Not). Punjab Man Dressed As Girlfriend To Cheat On Exam For Her

In Punjab, a man named Angrez Singh was arrested for pretending to be his girlfriend during a health worker exam. Disguised with a wig, red bangles, a bindi, and a Punjabi suit, he even created a fake ID card to get into the test.

Now that is true love.

Intelligence For Good Wants You To Help Take Down Bad Websites 🫵

Gary Warner and the team at Intelligence for Good want you.

In a new project called “Twenty for Takedown,” they are looking for fraud and crime fighters to help take down websites selling drugs and involved in crypto scams. Each week, they will release 20 websites, along with identifying information about the scam, and they want you to use your network or skills to take those websites down.

Their goal is to take down 1,000 bad websites this year!

I appreciate you reading my weekly newsletter, and if you want to share the Newsletter with your friends, send them here!

If you can check out a Webinar from Inscribe this week, I will be on the panel and would love for you to join.

Have another fantastic week fighting fraud.

FrankonFraud