Good morning 👋
Remember “To Catch a Predator”, well now a group of fraud fighters is using the same technique with elderly decoys and prop movie money “To Catch a Scammer” and its working. The group uses elderly decoys to draw out money mules sent by overseas scammers who pretended to be FBI or FTC agents - they arrested 3 las week alone.
Let’s get to the top post of the week.
Fraud News Roundup 🗞
Breach Hits 74 Banks And Credit Unions - Marquis, a financial software provider, suffered a ransomware attack, and customer data from 74 banks and credit unions was stolen.
Open Banking Fraud Rates Are Low - A new report finds that Open Banking fraud rates are tiny, only 13 basis points, which is about 75% lower than all other payment types.
Alloy Fraud Report 2026 - Alloy released their annual fraud report for 2026, which finds that synthetic identity, ATO and APP fraud are banks top fraud types for next year.
Starting Young these Days - Children as young as 7 are being sent to a criminal intervention program for hacking in the UK.
Carvana Red Flags - I see more and more red flag reports emerging online each week about this car company whose results are “too good to be true”.
120,000 Cameras Hacked - 4 people have been arrested in Korea for hacking into home and business cameras to extract footage for sexually explicit websites.
Strapped Santa Arrest - Straight out of The Grinch, police dressed as Santa Claus arrested “The Grinch” and his accomplices for stealing 24 tiny Christmas trees. The video montage has gone viral because its so bizarre.
Bad Choice - A dumb carjacker picked the worst and most stinky possible vehicle to steal.
Viral Black Friday Scam Deals - Another viral TikTok video shows how many retailers are scamming consumers on fake Black Friday deals. You gotta watch out, Black Friday deals are not what they seem.
Trump Accused of Mortgage Fraud - A new article reports that Trump has engaged in the same sort of occupancy fraud on several properties that other prominent politicians are being accused of.
How Does This Even Happen? - Two brothers who hacked the State Dept in 2015 were re-hired after they served time and proceeded to hack another 96 government databases in 2025. Come on now, this is ridiculous.
700 Scam Buildings Destroyed - The bombing and burning of scam buildings in KK Park and Shwe Kokko continue as authorities there crack down on scams.
Meta Claps Back - Meta published a blog post reporting that they took down 134,000,000 scam ads this year and that scam reports have dropped 50% since last year. They claim that scams (despite what critics say) are actually bad for their advertising business.
Get Your Popcorn - Want to see another scam compound blown to smithereens? The suspense builds on this one.
Fake AI Doctors - Its a new era of medical fraud as AI doctors are emerging online selling counterfeit products that simply don’t work and conning desperate people who need a cure.
This is what happens - When Trump commuted the sentence of fraudster Eli Weinstein back in 2021, the fraudster went right back to work perpetrating another $200 million Ponzi scheme. We have to stop letting these fraudsters off scot-free.
700Credit Breach - 18,000 car dealerships are impacted in a massive breach of the credit reporting vendor they use. Over 5.6 million people who shopped for cars had their data stolen by hackers.
Suprisingly, He Did It - Billy McFarland, the disgraced Fyre Festival fraudster actually pulled off his comeback music festival but it had more “backyard BBQ” vibe than the real deal.
ChatGPT To The Rescue - A man in India received a text message scam and he decided to turn the tables. He quickly used ChatGPT to code up an app that would capture a screenshot and the geo coordinates of the scammer. It worked and the scammer begged him not to report him to the police.
Crypto Kidnapping Gone Terribly Wrong - A millionaire crypto fraudster and his wife were forced to watch each other being tortured before they were killed in a botched extortion attempt.
The Bank President’s Internal Fraud Caused The Whole Bank To Fail
They gave this guy too much power - he was the President, the CFO, the BSA officer, and head of technology.
For years, he used his power to re-age his friends' accounts, make phony deposits, and sweetheart loans that did not require repayment. He was caught when the OCC came in to do an audit and noticed that 100 different loans all had the same payment date - June 27th, 2024.
Actimize’s Valuation Would Be A Bummer For Fraud and ID Companies, So Who Will Buy Them?
I was surprised when I heard that NICE was putting Actimize up for sale for as little as $1.5 billion, even though it generates $450 million in annual revenue and $150 million in operating profit.
That 3X valuation is incredibly low in a world where fraud is growing exponentially and companies with far less revenue are generating valuations of 10x to 15x. If NICE unloads Actimize so cheaply, it could affect fraud companies' comps for years. It’s like your neighbor selling their house for $50,000.
A great blog post by Gavin Holland predicts that a PE Firm is the most likely buyer, and I think he’s right, given the seemingly bargain price they are asking.
FCC Goes After Telco Company Behind Massive Walmart Impersonation Fraud Scam
A small Montana telecom company allowed scammers to blast 8 million fake Walmart calls to Americans about bogus PlayStation purchases.
Victims who pressed one on their phone to connect to an agent actually reached scammers who stole their SSNs and other personal information for fraud.
The FCC is threatening to shut the Telco down completely - something they have only done a few times in their history.
Even When Police Came, She Wouldn’t Stop Feeding $100 Bills Into the Bitcoin ATM.
An older lady was so convinced she was on the phone with a fraud analyst at her bank that she refused to stop feeding money into the Bitcoin ATM, even after the cops told her it was a scam.
The store clerk called the cops because she refused to listen. When victims are under the spell, they often will not listen to anyone.
Krebs Warns That E-Commerce is Next Target Of Toll Phishers
The Chinese phishing groups behind those endless toll phishing scams have released a new trick for the holidays. They're selling software packages that now blast out messages promising T-Mobile rewards points, AT&T perks, and unclaimed tax refunds.
Also, as part of the packages, they sell kits to that let criminals set up convincing e-commerce retail sites and check-out systems that are designed to steal your credit card details
These toll-phishers are going to push card fraud to new heights.
TV Executive That Produced Crime Shows Now On FBI’s Most Wanted For Massive Bank Fraud
Mary Carole McDonnell produced true-crime shows with names like "It Takes a Killer" and "I Married a Murderer."
Now the FBI has put her on their most wanted list for her massive $30 million loan fraud against banks in California. She claimed to be the heiress of McDonnell Aircraft Company, claiming to have a non-existent $80 million trust she used as collateral.
When People Say I Work For A Fraud Vendor, This Is What I Think Of
Anytime someone says, “Oh, you work for a fraud vendor”, I always think of me clinking around with my cart selling fraud tools and brushes, like a street vendor or something.
I never liked the word, but it’s stuck!
Are YOU a fraud vendor?
FBI - AI Deepfake Kidnapping Scams Are Coming
We’ve been seeing evidence of deepfake AI kidnapping and extortion scams for awhile on Reddit channels, but the FBI is now warning the public to brace themselves for a surge in these scams.
Here is an example of a recent deepfake video used in an extortion scam.
Victim Targeted In Massive $6.4 Million Digital Arrest Fraud Involving 20,000 Mule Accounts
Digital Arrest scams in India have become an epidemic and banks need to realize that they are quickly finding their way into America.
In a particularly brutal case last week, a victim lost $6.4 million in 40 days.
He made 27 trips to his bank as he was terrorized and secluded by fraudsters. Police investigated the network which involved an astounded 20,000 mule accounts opened at banks across the country.
The scammers created a studio with a fake police station and courtroom to make the scam more believable.
Revolut Launches “Street Mode” To Stop Transfer Muggings
Phone thefts in the UK have exploded by 425% since 2021, and a new crime called "transfer mugging" is on the rise.
Thieves force victims to unlock their phones and send money while being robbed. Revolut's new Street Mode feature fights back by adding a one-hour delay on transfers made outside your home or other trusted locations.
That delay gives banks and victims a window to stop the fraud before the money disappears.
Idiot Tries to Cash $1.6 Million in Fraudulent Checks- Says The Fed Gave Him A “Permission Slip”
Nothing as frustrating as dealing with a sovereign citizen trying to justify their fraud but this guy tries valiantly and fails.
He might have gotten away with it had he not misspelled the word “federal” on the check.
That’s a wrap for this week.
Thanks for reading!