- FrankonFraud
- Posts
- The Powerful Fraud Machines Anyone Can Buy Online đ°
The Powerful Fraud Machines Anyone Can Buy Online đ°
Frank McKenna
February 25, 2025
Hi đ
Finally, FinCEN has released its annual SAR data, which included some surprising stats on what fraud is growing and what is shrinking. I will cover some of the highlights in my blog this week.
Letâs check out the top stories!
This Weekâs Top Fraud Highlights
Scam Factories - A fantastic multimedia expose on life inside Scam Factories, revealing chilling details of what itâs like inside. Read More
Romance Scam âon Steroidsâ - Aurora Phelps is accused of being a black widow, killing three elderly men and scamming them for hundreds of thousands. She used data apps and drugged her victims, kidnapping at least one of them and taking him to Mexico, where he was found dead in a hotel room. Read More
Good Grief - Convicted fraudster Billy MacFarland has released more details on his Fyre II, and it sounds as bad as ever: no acts lined up, tickets running up $1 million a piece, and he canât even go himself since it's out of the country. Read More
2,137% Increase - âThree years ago, deepfake attacks were only 0.1% of all fraud attempts we detected, but today, they represent around 6.5% or 1 in 15 casesâ. Signicat findings indicate an alarming rise in AI fraud attempts against companies. Read More
Pump and Dump Frenzy - On rug pull, you know the rules. Dave Portnoy is going all in on crypto pump and dump, raking in millions by buying coins, promoting, and then dumping them immediately. Some call his controversial moves a crime. Read More
Heroic Bank Teller - A 70-year-old elderly woman was about to lose millions, but a heroic bank teller took the woman into her office and saved her millions of dollars. Read More
Vehicle Hostage Scam Rising - Tow Truck drivers show up to accident scenes minutes after a crash, towing vehicles to body shops and demanding large ransoms before they release the car. Read More
Massive âClaim Farmâ - In Australia, students, young offenders, inmates, and inmates were encouraged to file sexual assault claims while they were in care, netting over $1 billion in fraudulent claims. Read More
North Korean Historic Heist - North Korean hackers successfully stole $1.5 billion in crypto from ByBit. It is the single largest heist in the history of the world, and Bybit secured a $1.2 billion loan to cover the losses, which is just as suspicious - Read More
CFPB Torpedoâs All Litigation - Jason Mikula has heard rumors that the CFPB will terminate all litigation and cases. See Tweet
Scammer Sobs - An Indian student recruited as a mule traveled hours in an Uber to pick up $81,000 in cash from an elderly victim. When caught, he sobs uncontrollably, realizing his life is over. Watch Video
New SAR Data - Wire Fraud, Identity Theft, And ATO Are Up Big
Newly released SAR filings data for 2024 is hot off the press. And it reveals a troubling trend in fraud for banks; fraud is up significantly in three problem areas â account takeovers, identity theft and wire fraud.
The new data filed by US financial institutions reveals a startling trend: reports of account takeover fraud jumped 36%, identity fraud 27%, and wire fraud over 20% in 2024.
SMS Blasters: The Fraud Machine Anyone Can Buy Online
SMSBlasters are increasingly popping up in cities to blast millions of phishing messages to unsuspected victims. Sometimes they are in roving vans; other times, they are connected to high-powered antennas inside high-rise apartments.
Shockingly, these powerful SMS blasting devices are available all over the internet, so any scammer with a credit card and a high limit can buy them.
Disturbing Deepfake-As-A-Service Is Now Being Used For Kidnap and Ransom Scams
A woman sits in a chair. A man with a large machete on one side and another with a gun to her head on the other. Her mouth is duct-tapped, and she looks into the camera teary-eyed - seemingly begging for help with her eyes.
A video depicting just that was posted by scammers, showing the type of deepfakes they create for extortion scams. First identified by David Maimon, these disturbing deepfakes appear to be making the rounds and are an ominous sign of where scams are headed.
Voice Clones and Vanished Millions: How AI Scammers Duped Italy's Elite
It started with a phone call that sounded exactly like Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto. But the voice on the line was an AI clone, and it was about to pull off one of the most sophisticated frauds in modern history.
The AI scam targeted famous people like Giorgio Armani and other elites, and some fell for it, hook, line, and sinker, sending over $1 million to scammers in the Netherlands.
Meta Sues Jerk Who Made People Subscribe To Service So He Would Not Hack Them
By all indications, Idriss Qibaa was a jerk, hacking into influencers' Instagram accounts, disabling them, and then extorting them for $10,000 to activate them again.
In an eye-popping lawsuit, Meta is suing the scammer, who bragged that he was raking in $7.6 million a year by forcing 200 people to pay him a monthly fee so as not to hack their accounts.
Talk about modern-day mafia shakedown!
Man Says Banks Should Pay Him $3 Million Because Of His Pig Butchering Losses.
Kevin Liem is suing three banks because he lost close to $1 million in a Pig Butchering case. He says banks' fraud controls, KYC processes, and money laundering controls failed, and he is entitled to get all his money back, along with $3 million in damages.
Jackpot For Wanna-Be Fraudsters đ€ - 4 Million Free Cards
In a move reminiscent of BidenCash, underground marketplace B1ack Stash has just released 4 million credit cards for free. They are using the bonanza to bait people into using their services.
The leak, which hit deep web forums on February 19th, includes full card details, personal information, and digital fingerprints that point to a sophisticated web-skimming operation.
How 31 Inmates Used âJohningâ Technique To Pull Off A $5 Million Complex Fraud
It was a three-part scam that 31 inmates participated in. First, they used a âJohningâ method to get suggestive photos from victims through a romance scam. They morphed it into a law enforcement scam to extort PII from the victim, and finally, they used that data to get $5 million in unemployment benefits by perpetrating identity theft.
Now thatâs a wild 3 part scam!
The Pig Butchering Case That Turned A Small Friendly Town Against Itself
A trusted community banker, Shan Hanes, turned a town's faith upside down, siphoned millions from his family and friends, and ultimately destroyed a bank.
The New York Times covers this gripping drama from the inside, revealing details of the case that left this small town reeling. The aftermath of pig butchering cases is destroying lives and siphoning billions in wealth from innocent people.
When The Oil Rig Worker Actually Shows Up. Is This A Scam?
Ok, Fraud Fighters do your thing. An elderly lady meets an online romantic interest claiming to be an oil rig engineer who surprisingly shows up in person. Her friend is suspicious despite the guy passing every red flag check.
Is The Oil Rig Worker Legit?Help this lady understand if her friend is being scammed |
Weird Future - How Your AI Agent Will Talk To Their AI Agent
What happens when your AI agent helping you book travel, connects with their AI customer service agent booking travel? The AI agents will talk to each other in âGibberlinkâ
The future is weird.
When AI Robots Get Miffed And Attack
Itâs scary to think of what the world would be like if AI took over, but a crowd attending a festival in China may have gotten a glimpse.
An AI-powered humanoid robot navigating through a crowd at a festival in China. Suddenly, the robot stopped, advanced toward the audience, and attempted to strike people in the crowd. It had to be subdued by handlers.
Well, thatâs a wrap for another weekly edition of FrankonFraud. I appreciate everyone who sends me tips on developing trends and stories.
Keep fighting fraud and scams wherever you find them. đȘ