Hi Fraud Fighters 👋
Fraud is hitting banks hard this week in places you wouldn’t have expected 👉 Double Pledging Fraud where the borrower pledges the collateral to more than one lender without the lenders knowledge.
Chase, Fifth Third, Zions and Western Alliance collectively reported close to $500 million in losses to their earnings due to fraudulent collateral tied to loans and their stocks took a beating.
Now, lets get to the fraud news that you’re waiting for.
Fraud News Roundup 🗞
Banks Ordered To Snoop - UK Banks have been ordered to snoop on people getting retirement benefits and report any potential fraud to the government.
National Bank of Cambodia Next? - They released a statement to alleviate a potential run on the bank the wake of the latest US sanctions. Some expect they may be next.
The Bank Fraudster Behind LA Clippers Nightmare - A great expose on the bank fraudster that has embroiled the LA Clippers in a nightmare scenario.
F5’s Source Code Stolen - A nation state actor infiltrated F5’s product development environment and stole the source code software that many companies use for their security.
Shipping Container Haul - Watch as 400 luxury cars worth about $40 million are captured by police in this massive auto fraud case in Dearborn.
Hacking For Good - A security expert thinks the US government may have actually hacked the Prince Group scam network to gain control of $15 billion in Bitcoin linked to Pig Butchering.
Indian Buffalo Meat - A massive food fraud network operating in Vietnam was busted for selling Indian Buffalo Meat as premium Wagyu. Is it good? I don’t know.
Credit Union Fraudster - Shawn Steele faces 30 years in the joint for inflating his income, fabricating employment in loans to credit unions for boats and cars he bought.
Pig Butchering Sites - Ever wondered what fake investment sites that scammers use to steal millions. Here are a few that are still live.
Celebrity Actress Digitally Arrested - A famous Indian actress fell victim to a 7 hour digital arrest scam that drained $7,000 from her account in 7 hours. This scam is sweeping over India, and already making appearances in the US.
Arrested! - In a landmark event, a Japanese man has been arrested for creating deepfake nudes of celebrities and posting them online as the government tries to crackdown on this growing trend.
Forever Grateful I’m Sure - George Santos is released after he receives a pardon just a few months after being sent to prison for his extensive fraud schemes. As a bonus, he won’t even have to pay back the victims their $370,000.
Runs On The Bank, Scam Workers Scatter. Big Shakeup in Cambodia After US Crack Down
After the DOJ indicated Cambodian Kingpen Chen Zhi, confiscated $15 billion in Bitcoin and then sanctioned his company Prince Goup as a criminal organization, things are going a little nuts in Cambodia.
Immediately after it was announced, people began lining up at banks to get their money out.
And then video began to emerge online of scam workers fleeing scam compounds, and carrying their computer equipment with them, worried that they might be captured in crackdowns.
In some videos you can even hear gunfire as the scammers escape. These images and videos emerged on CyberScam Monitors accounts. 👇
Military Raids KK Park - 2,000 Scam Workers Arrested
The Myanmar military has shut down the notorious KK Park scam operation and arrested 2,198 scam workers and confiscated 30 Starlink receivers.
This is a major week for anti-scam efforts in the region!
Hey, Guess What? Fraud Just Topped The List Of What Customers Want From Their Bank
Alloy just released their 2025 State of Scams Report and this will probably surprise you. Customers most important factor by a large margin is the banks fraud prevention and security measures!
Check out more interesting stats on scams from Alloy. Some of them might surprise you.
Deja Vu - This $500 Million Double Pledge Fraud Is Just Like Tricolor
The Co-Founder and CFO of 777 partners has just been indicted for pulling off a “double-pledging fraud” just like Tricolor.
As Jamie Dimon said there are probably more cockaroaches out there. Well heres one!
Massive 49 Million Fake Account 40,000 SIM Sim Card Farm Dismantled
Over 49 million fake accounts used in frauds, scams and extortion using over 40,000 Sim Cards was busted up in Europe this week.
Watch the dramatic footage as police take a sledghammer to the door!
TransUnion Report-Auto Loan Fraud Is Booming In Places You Wouldn’t Expect
TransUnion released a major new fraud report called Unmasking Auto Finance Fraud, revealing what we have been reporting at Point Predictive for the last year - Auto Finance Fraud is soaring.
Credit Washing is up 228% in the last 18 months driven by fake identity theft reports.
Another interesting revelation - just because a borrower is superprime, doesn’t mean they are safe - they are the highest risk segment for fraud of any credit type!
I spoke to reporter Suparna Goswami from ISMG and gave my thoughts on why auto fraud is booming in Superprime.
Model's Dream Job Offer Ends in Horror: Woman Lured to Myanmar, Killed for Organs
A disturbing story originating out of Myanmar. A 26-year-old Russian model was murdered by organ traffickers after responding to a fake modeling job in Bangkok.
Vera Kravtsova was kidnapped at the Thai border, forced into Pig Butchering scams at a Myanmar scam compound, and killed when she failed to meet her scam targets.
Her captors demanded $500,000 from her family for her body's return.
Bank Employee Leaked Customer Details To Pig Butchering Scammers
A bank employee in Singapore leaked details of over 1,000 customers to scammers posing as Shanghai police officers.
She used her laptop to access the database and searched for common Chinese surnames before going into each profile to see if they were Chinese nationals. If they were, she would copy their names, identification numbers, bank balances and phone numbers into an Excel spreadsheet.
After she got 5-100 names, she would take photos of the spreadsheet and send them to scammers via Whatsapp.
Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Booming In Myanmar As Scammers Preferred Internet Service
A sobering new report reveals construction of scam centers is booming in Myanmar and Starlink has become the dominant internet provider in the country.
Check out how many Starlinks are on top of this scam center!
Watch Out For Fraudsters With Suitcases 🧳
A cybercriminal in London hid a fake cell phone tower in a suitcase and then headed to the tube where he started blasting thousands of text messages to people traveling on the trains during busy commutes times.
An alert passenger received one of the messages and became suspicious when he saw Kong Ji Chen standing on the platform with a suitcase not boarding any trains.
WhatsApp Takes On Scammers With New Monthly Limits
This is smart. WhatsApp is imposing new monthly limits for the number of no response messages an account can send.
Specifically they are targeting Pig Butchering scammers that send messages like this, citing that they have found 6.8 million accounts linked to scam centers.
Watch How The Mysterious Ghost Tap Scam Works To Drain Your Credit Cards Live
Ever wondered what the scammers do with those credit cards they steal in the Toll Road Scams?
Gary Warner shows you exactly how they pull off mysterious “Ghost Tapping” techniques to drain your credit card on the other side of the world.
Chinese scam bosses in Cambodia appear to have no fear of Cambodian officials. This viral video is spreading in Cambodia depicting the scammers with piles of cash at their desk and making it rain money. 💸
Watch Scammer Try To Steal Thousands From Reporter In Realtime
A CNN reporter went deep into a tech support scam and found herself at a Bitcoin ATM where the scammer ordered her to deposit thousands into the machine.
Ok, thats a wrap for the week. If you have any tips, please drop me a note here.
Thanks for your support and reading the newsletter - you and thousands of the top banking and fintech executives and fraud fighters in the industry read it every week to stay in the know on fighting fraud. 💪