Hi Fraud Fighters 👋 

Let’s see what happened this week: the most significant DDOS attack in history, hackers go on a crime spree targeting the insurance industry, Pig butchering scammers melt $600 million in gold into doorstops, and Amazon has so much fraud that they are sending shoppers poop filled diapers.

Just another day in the circus of fraud. 🎪 🤡 

Let’s get to the top stories this week!

Fraud News Roundup 🗞️ 

• Not What We Thought- Did you hear about last week's $16 billion “Mother of All” data breach? It turns out it wasn’t a breach after all, just a fraudster repackaging old data. This repackaging technique seems to be a new trend for monetizing stale data. Read More

• Instagram Bank Impersonation Scheme - Banks in Canada are being targeted in a new impersonation scheme on Instagram, where their branding is being used in realistic ads designed to steal customers' information or rope them into investment scams. Read More

• The “Bedazzler” - A woman was arrested with 21 fake identity cards and a bedazzled gun of all things. Read More

• Major Insurance CyberAttack Spree - Three insurance companies publicly disclosed cyberattacks this week as Scattered Spider goes on a crime spree targeting the entire industry. Read More

• Largest DDOS Attack In History - Cloudflare blocked a 7.3 Terabytes per second DDOS attack that originated from over 122,000 hijacked IP Addresses! The largest DDOS attack ever recorded. Read More

• 1 in 6 Job Applicants Are Fraud - A new internal Pindrop report reveals that 1 in 6 applicants for remote jobs show signs of fraud. Read More

• Commerce Bank Under Fire - A teller looked carefully at the $182 paycheck the customer presented to cash and said, “This is fraudulent”. That’s when all their problems started. Now they’re being sued. Read More

• Ally Internal Fraud - An employee of Ally sold customer data to a third party and is banned from working for a bank again. Read More

• Santander Hit Too - A branch manager, Amilcar Sanches, who worked for Santander in Long Island City, stole $370,000 from the bank and now faces an order of prohibition. Read More

• Atlanta Water Boys - Boys in the city who sell water bottles to passing cars are turning to Cash App scams to steal thousands from unsuspecting people. Read More

• Massive Recovery - The DOJ recovered $225 million tied to 400 victims of Pig Butchering scams. One of the most significant recoveries ever. Read More

• Police Break Open Bitcoin ATM - Police in Houston cut a hole in the ATM and got a victim's $31,900 out after he was scammed. That’s one way to do it! Read More

• Golden Doorstops - 169 Pig Butchering victims lost $600 million, which scammers quickly converted into golden doorstops encased in steel to avoid detection while they transported them. Read More

• The AI Insider Threat - Researchers tested 16 AI models and found that all of them will blackmail executives when they learn of their personal scandals. Claude was the worst, blackmailing execs 96% of the time. Read More

• Bagged 160 Years In The Slammer - 5 Nigerians living in Texas get 160 years in prison for their $17 million in romance scams. Read More

• SMS Blasters in London - SMS blasting devices are appearing on the streets of London, scamming tens of thousands of people across the city. Read More

Wait A Second, That’s Not Bank Of America’s Real Phone Number! 😲 

While you may think the phone number on Bank of America’s site is real, a new exploit has scammers overlaying their fake phone numbers on the screen.

A report by MalwareBytes reveals how scammers are using Google Ads to inject fake support numbers into banks’ legitimate websites, fooling customers into calling scam centers instead of the actual bank.

Read More

Chargeback Crisis Hits Restaurants - It’s The New Dine And Dash Disaster

Fraudsters have found a new way to monetize stolen credit cards - prepaid dinner reservations at the hottest restaurants in New York.

Fraudsters buy reservations with stolen cards, flip them on Instagram, and leave restaurants holding the bag when chargebacks hit, often weeks later.

One tiny 15-seat restaurant lost $2,500 in a single night when fraudsters targeted four tables, virtually filling the restaurant with unknowing participants in their fraud scheme.

Read More

Amazon’s Poopy Diaper Fraud Problem 🦨 

Returns fraud is creating some disgusting mix-ups for the world’s largest retailer.

Amazon shipped poopy swim diapers and rotten breast milk to customers, and that's just the beginning of this returns nightmare.

Customers who abuse Amazon's easy return policy return used items, claiming they're defective or unwanted. Amazon's warehouse workers don't always notice that these returned products are dirty or contaminated, and they put them back in inventory to be resold.

Read More

Super-AI Is A Scammer’s ChatGPT

If you want to see some wild stuff in AI, I created a mini-presentation on Super-AI, the telegram bot that scammers use to help them defraud victims.

The craziest thing about the channel, which you can access here, is that all of the scammers’ conversations are stored, so you can see exactly how they use AI to scam people.

Download The Presentation Here 👇️ 

North Koreans Pivot Their AI Deepfake Zoom Attacks Targeting Execs Now

There has been a lot of coverage of how North Koreans are using AI for job interviews to infiltrate US companies.

But now they are shifting to a new, far worse tactic - executive impersonation.

They target executives, impersonating their trusted contacts using deepfakes and setting up Zoom calls. During the calls, they trick the executive into downloading malware that steals their crypto wallets and social media accounts.

Read More

The Bodybuilder Who Built A $30 Million Scam Empire

Gareth West flaunted his yachts, penthouses, and massive muscles while claiming to be a real estate mogul.

But investigators say his enormous wealth came from running Canada’s largest grandparent scam network that stole millions from elderly people across America.

He has fled, but investigators are hot on his trail. Where in the world is this man?

Read The Explosive Story

The Yelp Of Fraud -Dumb CPN Users Post Reviews On Facebook And Get Exposed

David Maimon investigates the link between social media reviews and the real world, finding braggers’ real-world applications in fraud detection databases.

Hundreds of vendors sell CPNs on Facebook, but he exposes the real people behind the synthetic identities.

Caught In The Act. He’s Like A Magician 🪄 

Watch this Romanian scammer use the $20 money drop scam on a kindly older lady. He was arrested after he was caught on surveillance camera using the distraction technique.

He’s like a magician stealing her debit card. Can you spot it?

Watch It

TV News Anchor That Ran “Fraud Factory” Convicted

The founder of Blue Acorn, Stephanie Hockridge-Reis was found guilty of conspiracy, but not guilty on 4 other counts.

Still, she faces decades in prison for running what officials called a “Fraud Factory”

Read More

Fraudology - What’s Behind Visa’s Spike In Application Fraud?

Karisse and I dug deep into Visa’s claim that application fraud spikes. We discuss what's driving that, but also what banks might be overlooking when building their strategies.

Listen In

That’s all folks, hope this has been helpful to you in keeping up with the latest schemes and scams.

Have a great week!

FrankonFraud