Fraud and financial crime investigators are unique in that many times their victims facilitated their own victimization. The victim of home burglary usually did nothing other than be away from their home. Robbery victims simply possessed an item someone else wanted. Many times homicide victims, through poor luck or bad timing, were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone of us could find ourselves similarly victimized at any moment.
Fraud victims… many times are just plain dumb. And the majority of us would never find ourselves in the same predicament. Would you believe the IRS wants your tax penalty in Google Play gift cards?
Yes - victim blaming. The truth hurts. But it must. Victims who facilitated their own loss shouldn’t be validated to protect their feelings. They made really poor choices and need to accept it. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve justice. They do, and it’s our job to make it happen.
Case in point is this story from ARS Technica about a homeopath in California that was arrested for selling “Covid Pellets”. Supposed immunity inducing capsules made from the “germs” of the Covid-19 virus. Read the article for yourself, but it’s hard to feel sorry for anyone that fell for this bunk.
Yet, the investigators did their job! They looked past the intellectual shortcomings of their victims and pursued justice. People who prey on the simple are the worst and deserve no mercy. Even when the victim played a part. Even when the victim is really stupid.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/feds-arrest-ca-homeopath-for-selling-covid-pellets-fake-cdc-vaccine-cards/
What’s the recidivism rate?
A Detroit man was denied bail from a Pennsylvania prison while waiting trial on federal charges related to a counterfeit check ring that targeted community banks and credit unions. The accusations aren’t newsworthy, we live it everyday. But the quickness in which he returned to crime is shocking: “Harris-Bey began working to scam banks and credit unions less than three months after completion of an 80-month federal sentence in Ohio in a similar check cashing scheme in which he was required to make restitution of $765,112”. He probably doesn’t deserve any consideration from the courts. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/07/reputed-ringleader-of-multi-state-bank-scamming-scheme-to-remain-in-prison-in-pa.html
What wasn’t he involved in?
A Kansas man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud - just about all of it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri allege that while running a payday loan scam, Joel Tucker, engaged in a debt fraud scheme, bankruptcy fraud scheme, tax-evasion fraud scheme, and a paycheck protection fraud scheme. Of course, he spent the money on cars… an Escalade, Porsche, and a Ferrari. The exotic car business thrives on fraud. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/prairie-village-man-sentenced-12-years-73-million-dollar-payday-loan-fraud-8-million
What’s that saying about snitches?
The U.S. Department of State is offering rewards for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, participates in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Tips can be reported through a TOR channel and rewards will be paid in cryptocurrency. This might actually work since tipsters have a better chance of remaining masked if paid with crypto. https://www.state.gov/rewards-for-justice-reward-offer-for-information-on-foreign-malicious-cyber-activity-against-u-s-critical-infrastructure/
Fulfilled By who?
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission filed a complaint against Amazon over the sale of hundreds of thousands of hazardous products, including carbon monoxide detectors that fail to detect carbon monoxide, hair dryers without required protection from shock and electrocution, and flammable sleepwear meant for children. The issue is safety but it should also be about quality! I’ve been bitten by associate sellers on both Amazon and Wal-Mart’s platforms that sell absolute junk. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/amazon-shipped-flammable-kids-sleepwear-and-hair-dryers-that-can-electrocute-you/
The Rest…
An explanation of email security mechanisms - SPF, DKIM, and DMARC by Praetorian. https://www.praetorian.com/blog/email-security/
The Metropolitan London Police seize Bitcoin worth 180 million British pounds during a money-laundering investigation. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jul/13/met-police-bitcoin-money-laundering-cryptocurrency
NFL star Saquon Barkey says Show Me The Money…BTC only please. https://www.coindesk.com/new-york-giants-star-saquon-barkley-will-take-all-future-endorsement-money-in-bitcoin
Cybercrime group is using steganography to beat data loss prevention software (DLP) by embedding credit card data into image files https://thehackernews.com/2021/07/magecart-hackers-hide-stolen-credit.html
Cool Tools
Whois for onion sites: https://torwhois.com/
Find out if that target IP address is a TOR relay: https://metrics.torproject.org/exonerator.html
Cool Job
Director of AP Investigations - Gap Inc. Located in San Francisco (Sorry).
“Compliment people behind their back. It’ll come back to you” - someone smarter than me.
Thank you for reading and watch for next weeks issue.
Matt