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- Victims Are Calling Banks, But Scammers Answer The Phone ☎️
Victims Are Calling Banks, But Scammers Answer The Phone ☎️
Frank McKenna
November 05, 2024
Hi FraudFighters 👋
It’s election week, and one thing is for sure: this will not be a typical week in the US. We need to be prepared for a week of uncertainty as things unfold. New scams could emerge that we should be on the lookout for.
Let’s check out the top stories this week!
Ghost Job Epidemic—Fake job postings are proliferating, and recruiters admit that 41% of their positions are fake and used for various insidious purposes by employers.
They don’t believe it - The NYTimes covers the problem banks and families have when elderly people don’t think they are being scammed and side with the scammer.
Police Chief Cloned—Two years ago, a police chief recorded an interview with ABCNews, which they posted on YouTube. This week, those audio clips were used to create a voice clone, which scammers used as part of an impersonation scam.
“Phish and Ships” - Over 1,000 shopping websites were hacked with malware to show fake product listings, luring shoppers into divulging all their personal and credit card information.
Fake Parade - In Dublin, thousands lined the sidewalks for a Halloween parade that never happened. They were lured there by an AI-generated article that hallucinated the whole thing.
Fed Ex Junkie - A man loaded boxes with junk, shipped them via FedEx, and then claimed the packages were never delivered. He stole $750,000 in the scheme.
Spot AI Cheaters - Do you know how to spot an AI Cheater in a Job Interview? Now you do, thanks to this insightful blog post.
Overwhelmed—New Jersey Anchor Benefits is so overrun with fraud that the state has halted the program and begun yanking funds out of people’s bank accounts that received checks.
Credit Card Fraud Murder - A sick Maryland woman has been found guilty of murdering her mother — and then hacking up her body to try to get rid of it by grilling parts on the BBQ after he mom accused her of credit card fraud.
Fisker - Car Comet Fisker hired a North Korean Spy and IT worker, and some speculate it led to their downfall.
FBI Recovers $8.3 Million Embezzled By “Evil Bank CEO”
Cheers erupted in court yesterday as many Heartland Tri-State Bank Pig Butchering debacle victims learned they would get their money back.
Many of the victims were his only family, friends and neighbors.
This Nigerian “Missing Person Scam” Using Deepfakes Is Just Plain Evil
Imagine you have been looking for a friend or loved one that has been missing. You've posted photos of them online and desperately want to find them. You are heartbroken.
In the midst of it all, a scammer on the other side of the world is stalking social media, looking for a desperate person just like you. They find that photo and make a deepfake clone of the missing person and contact you as them, claiming they are kidnapped and to please help them by sending money.
Another way is that Nigerian scammers are using AI these days.
You Dialed Your Bank, But A Scammer Answered The Phone
“But I dialed the 800 number on the back of my ATM card; how could I have been talking to a scammer?”
It’s something banks have been hearing from victims more frequently. And there is a good reason for it. 👉️ A dangerous new malware called “FakeCall” hijacks a victims phone after they dial the bank, and routes to call directly to the scammer.
Stalker Used $1 Zelle Payments To Terrorize His Ex-Girlfriend
Imagine being so desperate that you had to resort to Zelle to send messages to someone.
But that is exactly what Dustin Francis Haxho did to try to get in touch with his ex-girlfriend, who wanted nothing to do with him.
According to a recent indictment, Dustin Haxho found a sinister workaround when his ex-girlfriend, a Broward County law enforcement officer, blocked his phone number: He began sending her $1 payments through Zelle, using the payment note field to continue his campaign of harassment.
Haunting Text Messages: How Coco Scammed Brian
Troy Gochenour, with the Global Anti-Scam Organization, provided me with a transcript of hundreds of text messages between Coco (a butchered pig) and a 50-year-old victim named Brian. It gives a rare behind-the-scenes view into each person's mindset. Brian thought he was falling in love ❤️🔥 , while Coco only had one thing on her mind—his money 💰️ .
The saddest part of this? After searching for Brian, we found his obituary. It appears he passed away “unexpectedly” in the last couple of months. He was only 50.
Was he pushed to the brink by this scammer? This makes the text exchange all the more haunting.
They're Alive! Researchers Turn ChatGPT Into Scamming Machines
ChatGPT’s new voice AI is incredible. It’s also highly vulnerable to exploits. Researchers used ChatGPT 4.o to create seven different autonomous scam bots that they say were wildly successful in carrying out scams independently.
On average, the AI scam bots worked 36% of the time and cost only pennies to execute. That makes them better, faster and cheaper than human scammers.
They tested the AI agents against common scams and popular websites like BofA, Gmail, Instagram, and Google Play.
Watch This Kid Steal $230 Million And Go Buck Wild Spending It
This has got to be the fastest rise and fall of a fraudster in history. What an absolute fool.
This fantastic video shows how Malone and his buddies pulled off a grand theft crypto, spent the money, and got caught for flaunting his newfound wealth.
Fannie Mae Says Pervasive Mortgage Fraud Is Back - But With A Twist
Mortgage fraud is back, but commercial loans are the new target.
Fannie Mae confirmed for the first time an ongoing investigation into a litany of schemes that may be far more pervasive than was initially thought. The agency also listed financial losses from mortgage fraud as its top risk factor in its third-quarter earnings filing.
This Shopper Is A Little “Too Friendly”. There is AI For That
Ever notice that fraudsters are just a little too nice? It turns out there is now AI that can spot those tell-tale patterns of scammers that are working a scam on retail stores.
About a month ago, Israel-based Corsight AI began offering its global clients access to a new service aimed at rooting out what the retail industry calls “sweethearting”—instances of store employees giving people they know discounts or free items.
Fraud Fighter Exposes A Fake Business Loan Fraud Ring
Nguyen Nguyen is always on the hunt for scams and found a doozy last week. A fraud ring appears to be setting up cookie-cutter fake business loan sites, which appear to be phishing sites to extract PII and other information from small business owners. Here are the sites to keep an eye out for 👉️ Funding-Club.com, Lendmefund.com, hero-finance.com, bizloansforyou.com, theunitedlending.com
Branch Manager Pulls Off $5 Million Loan Fraud Whopper
A branch manager, Tommy Hawkins, collaborated with fraudsters to fund nearly 40 PPP loans with Key Bank totaling 5 million dollars.
What was in it for him? He received $5,000 for each funded PPP loan and a commission for closing the deals.
That’s a wrap for another weekly edition of FrankonFraud. I hope you have an amazing week ahead fighting fraud.