Hello from FrankonFraud,

I am not sure what has happened but I am getting unsolicited emails from scam victims almost every day now. And it’s really heartbreaking.

People are losing their life savings and don’t know where to turn. They are literally being left out in the cold with few resources and no advocates to help them recover their money.

They ask me what they can do, and far too often I don’t have any good advice for them.

But last week it hit a little closer to home. My sister Erin McKenna who runs a popular bakery with locations in New York, Los Angeles and DisneyWorld, called me to ask my advice about something.

I could tell something was wrong when I picked up the phone. I asked her what was wrong, and she immediately burst into tears.

“I’ve been scammed!”

The Fraud Department Scammers Stole $12,000 From My Sister

“It started with a text message” she said, “It was from Chase Fraud Department and they asked if I had authorized a $505 purchase to Delta Airlines”.

“I replied back -No.”

And so kicked off Erin’s unfortunate brush with a band of prolific scammers using a technique that is targeted tens and thousands of Americans - the dreaded Fraud Department Scam.

60 seconds after she replied to the text message to “Chase”. She saw an incoming call from Chase Bank on her phone.

Erin answered the person on the other end of the line said “Good afternoon, Am I speaking to Erin McKenna”.

“Mrs McKenna, we are calling from the Chase Fraud Department to protect your account.” They spoke perfect English and had the banking script down.

“Can I ask if you if you recently signed into your Chase Account using a Samsung Galaxy from Ohio?

Erin began to panic and said “Absolutely Not”, I am in New York!”

“Do not worry Mrs McKenna, we will take care of everything here. It looks like someone has hacked into your account”. You will not be responsible for any charges but it looks like we need to verify a few things with you.”

Over the next 5 minutes they progressively gained her trust and you guessed it - she gave them a One Time Passcode (OTP).

Relieved that the “Chase Fraud Department” had her back, Erin hung up and breathed a sigh of relief.

Little did she know, she was talking to scammers and they proceeded to drain her account for over $12,000 within minutes firing off fraudulent Zelle transactions left and right.

Needless to say, Erin is one of the millions of American’s that are falling victim to scams this year.

I guess it hits a little harder when it’s someone you know. Eventually, we will all be victims.

And I am not sure education alone is going to work. I mean, I consider myself well educated in fraud and scams, but I have been scammed myself.

It’s going to take a concerted effort by financial institutions, telecoms, retailers, government and others to actively protect consumers and block these scam attempts.

I Got Scammed, How Could I Be So Dumb?

Fraudsters suck. They got me. They really did. Their trick was so slick it worked.

I should have known better. I’ve always thought I was smart and savvy and could spot a scam a mile away. I mean I work in fraud detection trying to help people avoid fraud all day long.

But I was wrong. I am not that smart and they got me. And I feel like so dumb.

Voice Cloning Fraud. The Next Generation Of Realistic Scams Is Upon Us

It didn’t take long at all for fraudsters to figure out how to use all of these Ai tools to their advantage. One area that they have focused on is voice cloning.

Using services like Resemble.ai , scammers can upload samples of a persons voice and have it cloned. They can then create scripts of what they want the cloned voice to say and the service will generate it and provide an mpeg or .wav file.

These voice clones are now being used in “relative scams” where a scammer uses the cloned voice to fool the victim into sending wire transfers or gift cards as ransom.

Read the entire article here by clicking on this link or the image below

Hy-Vee Suspends Employee Discounts After Fraud Found

Employee discounts have always been rife with abuse, but at the Grocery Store chain, Hy-Vee had to suspend their discount program after they found some employee discount codes were being used across many states simultaneously.

Read the entire article by clicking on this link or the image below.

Nationwide Check Fraud Alert - FinCEN Says Check Fraud Doubled Last Year To Over 680,000 Reports

In 2021, financial institutions filed over 350,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to FinCEN to report potential check fraud, a 23 percent increase over the number of check fraud-related SARs filed in 2020.

This upward trend continued into 2022, when the number of SARs related to check fraud reached over 680,000, nearly double from the previous year’s amount of filings.

Fraud Fighter With A Heart - Ayelet Biger-Levin

Every so often a fraud fighter comes around that changes the game and does something unique. And I think Ayelet Biger is one of those people.

She’s been in the fraud game for 15 years but recently launched a new podcast called The Scam Ranger Podcast. She started the podcast to raise awareness to the human side of fraud.

To her, fraud is more than KPI’s and metrics and . There are humans that hurt when fraud occurs and the toll on human suffering is immense - it can even lead to suicide in some cases.

Maybe its the way she explains things. When I first heard her speaking - it was clear she had a very deep understanding of the problem from a technical but also emotional level.

Ayelet (like me) is no stranger to scams herself. She recently almost fell victim to a remote access scam attempt and two of her family members have been victims of some pretty egregious scams. Scams are something that touch all of us.

Check out The Scam Ranger Podcast by Clicking On This Link

Thanks for all you do to fight fraud. There is so many great people doing great things in the industry.

Do you know someone I should feature that is doing something different and unique in fraud? I’d love to hear about it.

Have a positive fraud fighting week.

FrankonFraud