Hi from FrankonFraud 👋 ,

The Los Angeles wildfires may go down in history as the costliest of all time. Over 12,000 structures were destroyed, and neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and Alta Dena were utterly wiped out.

The economic cost could exceed $275 billion. But they will likely trigger a new wave of scams and fraud. Indeed, looting, scamming, and gouging have already started for many victims.

Let’s check out the top stories this week.

🔥 This Week’s Fraud Highlights 🔥 

• Severe Alert⚡️: An expert has posted an alert that scammers are engaged in a new trick: luring victims out of the country, kidnapping them when they arrive, and then harvesting their organs. This is right out of a horror movie if true.

• Oops, Sorry: OpenAI's web-scraping bots just accidentally DDoS'd a small business by hammering their site with 600 different IP addresses, attempting to grab their entire database of human digital models.

• Crypto Refunds Coming: You know how many people lose money with crypto scams - well, they might be entitled to refunds now if a new CFPB rule passes. This could be a massive development in scam reimbursements.

• Thrown to Death: A Thai Worker forced to scam in a call center was thrown to his death off the 18th floor of a high-rise, marking a new era in brutality from these scam bosses.

• So Many Fakes - A shocking 1 in 5 job listings are fake and nothing more than ghost job listings according to this new report.

• Telegram Reckoning: Telegram is revealing the identities of thousands of fraudsters. Since September, it has reportedly turned over the personal information of over 2,300 users, a huge increase from the 14 people it reported the year before.

• Apple Insider Fraud: Apple fired 185 employees in India who were involved in a donation scam. The employees used the matching gifts program and received kickbacks from charities.

• Never-Ending Nightmare: An unusual lawsuit was filed, and no victims were identified—just $2.2 million in pilfered funds sitting in crypto wallets. The money was the proceeds of a massive remote job scam, and they don’t know who was running it yet. 

• Top 8 List - Did your credit union make the top 8 list of most “CPN-Friendly”? Click here to see if you are being targeted or not by synthetic identity scammers

• $150M AI Fraud Acquisition - 2-year-old AI Scam Detection company Altyera was acquired by ChainAnalysis for a whopping price tag. Not bad for an 11-employee company.

Models and Actors Are Disappearing And Turning Up In Scam Centers

Pig Butchering bosses are always looking for good-looking people to help carry out their scams, and they have a new target - actors and models.

A sudden rash of high-profile disappearances in China has officials worried. One actor, Wang Xing, who went missing near the Thailand-Myanmar border, has confirmed he was a victim of human trafficking following his rescue from a scam compound.

Are there others? It seems so, as two others came up missing last week and cannot be found.

Click to Read

LA Fires Spark A New Fraud Wave: It’s Just Getting Started

Nothing is worse than an idiot scammer taking advantage of people during a crisis. And scammers, price gougers, and opportunistic crime are everywhere in LA.

People are even dressing up as Firefighters as a disguise and looting people’s homes.

One prolific scammer is Pablo Hernandez, who sells fraudulent documents, addresses, and a method for helping people who don’t even live in California file fraudulent FEMA claims.

We’re about to witness a massive wave of scams and fraud emerge out of LA. Here is a high-risk alert of all the scams that will happen courtesy of SCARS.

Nigerian scammers are pouncing on the opportunity and have released a new Celebrity Format used in romance scams. Since so many celebrities’ homes were burned, they are instructing scammers how to take advantage.

Check it out here. 👇️ 

And donation scammers are everywhere. My sister lives in the area and details how she got scammed this weekend. You just can’t be too careful right now!

@mentybee666

My gut told me not to do it, and I did it anyway. #scam #target #losangeles #fire

Did Delta Fraudulently Deepfake This Flight Attendant As Retaliation?

This has to be a first of its kind in deepfakes. A flight attendant for Delta Airlines claims they deepfaked a video of her refusing to serve coffee to a passenger as retaliation against her.

Wild times if true!

Click to Read

This Devilish Tap To Pay Fraud Scam Is Starting To Gain Steam In Parking Lots

People are shocked to discover credit card transactions for thousands of dollars on their statements after they donate small amounts via Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App to people that approach them in parking lots.

It works like this. They are approached by scammers (usually at Target) who request a small donation to help with <insert sob story here>. They believe they are donating $10 or $20, but the scammer is manipulating the transaction and billing them for thousands.

People are falling for this everywhere now.

Click To Read

Just Like Honey: Capital One Accused of Hijacking Commissions Too

First, the popular coupon app Honey was accused of hijacking commissions and penetrating a massive fraud against influencers. Now, Capital One has been named in a lawsuit with eerily similar claims.

The lawsuit alleges that Capital One's shopping browser extension promised savings but secretly hijacked revenue from content creators through invisible code and strategic popups.

Click to Read

They Are Infiltrating: Hundreds of Chinese Fraudsters Arrested in Nigeria

Last month, 792 Chinese scammers, which included 148 trainers, were arrested in Nigeria after they were trying to teach people how to do crypto-scams the right way.

This week, another group of Chinese foreigners were arrested in an apartment building for running other types of scams.

We are seeing an infiltration of Chinese scams in Nigeria, which is terrible news!

Click To Read

Deepfake Brad Pitt Made Woman Divorce Husband and Send Him $850,000

A 23-year old French Woman was scammed out of $850,000 when she received deepfake images and AI videos of Brad Pitt and wanted to help him out.

Even worse, deepfake Brad asked her to divorce her millionaire husband, which she did as well. He told her all his funds were tied up in a messy divorce with Angelina Jolie.

Deepfakes are going to be a force multiplier in scams this year.

Wow, AI-Enabled Cheating Glasses Could Be A Disaster In The Making

Eddy XU, an X user, has created AI chess glasses that allow players to execute perfect engine moves without their opponents catching on.

The glasses provide subtle instructions on perfect moves to help the user win every game. Casinos, schools, testing facilities should be on alert as these cheating glasses could be used to change the game completely!

Housecleaner Goes Full Fraud Maniac After Not Getting Christmas Bonus

A housecleaner in Florida demanded a $500 Christmas bonus from her elderly 83-year-old boss. When her boss refused, she forcibly snatched her checkbook, breaking her wrist and proceeded to forge herself a $1400 bonus check.

But that wasn’t it. She stole the old ladies' credit cards and paid her rent, and then proceeded to steal the old ladies' Christmas cards, too.

Hopefully, the judge throws the book at this violent fraudster!

Click to Read

The Laundromat Called Digital Advertising

Would you notice a mysterious 99-cent charge on your credit card? Probably not - and that's precisely what fraudsters count on when they try to launder billions of dollars.

They're using these tiny transactions to buy virtual goods in online games, but that's just the beginning.

Dr. Augustine Fou uncovers how scammers have turned digital advertising into a $350 billion money laundering paradise, where fake websites and phantom ad views efficiently clean dirty money.

Click to Read

Should Fraud Analysts Run As Fast As They Can From AI?

Should fraud analysts run as fast as they can from AI, or should they embrace it?

I had the chance to participate in a podcast with Ronan Burke, the CEO of Inscribe, and Brianna Valleskey, their Head of Marketing, on that very subject.

If you don’t know where I stand on AI, make sure you read our 2025 predictions because I make it very clear where I think it’s heading.

That’s it for another weekly edition. I hope you have an amazing week ahead fighting fraud. 💪 

FrankonFraud