Greetings FrankonFraud subscribers, I got the breaking fraud intel right to your inbox this week.

The Top Stories 🗞️ 

• Amazon Taking Napster Approach to Refund Fraud

• It’s becoming clear. Self Checkout is a Fraud Fiasco

• NY Times reporters go deep on Telegram Check Fraud

• I read an insane story on this Bust Out Mogul

• A hotel becomes a house of scams and slavery

• Ghost companies overwhelm the IRS

• A Scammer “blows up like a Pinata”

• The guy tries to buy Hellcat with a CPN

• Colorblind glasses scam finally exposed

Let’s check out some of those top stories.

Amazon’s Legal Blitz - Takes “Napster Approach” To Pro Refunder Perps

Amazon is striking back against professional refunders but they are taking an interesting tact - going after their customers who use professional refunders to get free stuff.

The technique of going after users is reminiscent of how labels went after users of Napster who illegally downloaded their music.

In a sweeping lawsuit filed this week, Amazon went after Telegram Refunders REKK, naming 20 customers, former employees of Amazon, and “John Does” who work for the shadowy criminal organization.

The lawsuit spells out how the group used extraordinary tactics including bribery, phishing attacks, and a hodgepodge of social engineering exploits to carry out of 100,000 successful refunds.

Click on This Link Or Image Below To Read

The NY Times Asked Why Check Fraud Skyrocketed. I Showed Them Telegram

A few weeks ago, I got a call from two NY Times reporters who were doing a piece on check fraud. I asked, “Have you seen Telegram lately? That will show you exactly what the problem is.”

So the next day we set up a Zoom call and I did a screen share showing them hundreds of channels with stolen checks. As with anyone who sees the lunacy of Telegram for the first time, they were shocked at what they were seeing - full images of checks right out there in the open.

It was right then that they decided to investigate, going right to the source where the checks came from - the victims.

Click This Link Or Image Below To Read

Insanity. A Pack Of Corrupt Police And A Bust Out Mogul From Glendale

Edgar Sargsyan ran a sprawling credit card bust-out empire from his phony law firm - The Pillar Group - with connections to the Armenian and Mexican Mafia.

His network was responsible for stealing millions from banks and card issuers by running up balances and disappearing faster than a toupee in a hurricane.

But that wasn’t what made him one of the most notorious bust-out perps of all time. It was his pack of police and the FBI on his payroll that made him untouchable.

Well Sargsyan was just sentenced this week, and his ridiculously light sentence will have you questioning if he doesn’t have others on the payroll too.

Click This Link Or Image Below To Read

People Can’t Be Trusted. Self-Checkout Results in 6700 Basis Points of Theft

First, it was Ketchup dispensers at McDonalds. But people could not be trusted to not squirt ketchup all over the counter, break the dispensers like idiots, and hoard ketchup. So they took those away.

Now, a new study by Granbango which used computer vision to film people at the self-checkout counter found that people were stealing at an insane rate.

How To Track Down A Check Thieven Scoundrel With Tech

To track down an alleged mail thief, a US postal inspector used license plate reader technology, GPS data collected by a rental car company, and, most damning of all, hid a camera inside one of the targeted blue post boxes which captured the suspect’s full face as they allegedly helped themselves to swathes of peoples’ mail.

Thanks to Ken Palla for the tip on this story

Click This Link Or Image Below To Read

Why Sir Why? Guy Tries To Buy CPN At Car Dealer

This didn’t end well. 🤪 

Ghosts Companies Overwhelm IRS Program

The IRS is being overwhelmed by ghosts. 👻 Not a real ghost but fake companies that are being used to file ERC claims.

The IRS rejected more than 20,000 requests for pandemic-era tax refunds from employers that either didn’t exist or didn’t have employees during the required period, as the tax agency cracks down on a program that has been rife with problems.

Click This Link Or Image Below to Read

Welcome To The Hotel Sanipiro. You Can Scam Anytime You Want, But You Can Never Leave 🎸 

It’s not the Hotel California but the 3-Star Hotel Sanipiro in the City of Butami Georgia boasts beachfront rooms and sweeping views of the Black Sea.

But it was also home to over 400 Chinese and Taiwanese people who were held against their will and forced to scam. The victims were lured to Eastern Europe by Triad Gangs and if they did not scam well, they were tortured through electrocution and waterboarding.

The gang and scammers fled the hotel last month after police were alerted.

Click This Link Or Image Below to Read

“He Blew Up Like A Pinata”. Scammer Spills Gift Cards Everywhere

NingNing Sun walked through Target stores, emptying the racks of any gift card he could find and replacing those real gift cards with counterfeited identicals which would result in consumers transferring money to his accounts in China instead of the retailer.

This is a new and dangerous scam!

Click On This Link Or Image Below To Read

Fake Tears 😢 - How ColorBlind Glasses Were A Big Scam All Along

I am colorblind. When I say that, people assume I see the world in black and white which isn’t the case at all. I can see all colors, they just look a bit different to me than they should.

And that’s why I was always super skeptical about those YouTube videos like this one where a man weeps uncontrollably after putting on the glasses while emotional piano music tinkles in the background.

Head of Santander Fraud Instructs Facebook How To Find Blatant Scams

Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud for Santander had some simple advice for Facebook to stop scams - just look and delete obvious scam advertisements.

Does he sound exasperated? He is. He is the most impersonated fraud fighter in the world, so he takes all those calls from victims.

Will they listen? Probably not.

Why? 🤷 Because they couldn’t care less.

Thanks for staying informed with me on new trends in fraud.

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Thank you fraud fighting friends!

FrankonFraud