Threats Without Borders - Issue 69
Threats Without Borders - Issue 69
Matt's Newsletter - Week ending March 13, 2022
One of the hardest things about investigating cyber-financial crimes, at least for me, is resisting the urge to blame the victim. Even when they did something so stupid that it defies all logic and common sense - which is most of the time. The criminal is the only person responsible. Their acts of deceit and eagerness to pray on the vulnerable caused financial loss and the victim should not be further victimized through the ridicule of the people who are supposed to help them.
Ideally.
But it's so hard.
After a short hiatus, car wrap scams are back in vogue. The victim agrees to have their vehicle turned into a mobile billboard by having it vinyl wrapped with the logo of some national company. Dunkin Donuts seems to be a favorite. The scammers find their willing participants through posts on classified ad websites and social media. Although I did have a victim last year that called a phone number listed on a roadside sign that promised: "Make Money Driving Your Car". How simple.
The victim agrees to have their vehicle vinyl wrapped in exchange for a monthly payment. The scammers then send a paper check to the victim made out for the first two months' payment and for the cost to have the vehicle vinyl wrapped. The victim is supposed to keep their portion and forward the rest to the company that will do the wrap. So for instance, the victim gets a check for $2800.00 and they keep $800 and send the remaining $2000 to the company.
The problem is the vinyl wrap company is actually the scammers and they aren't ever coming to wrap the car. The even bigger problem for the victim is the $2800.00 check they received is fake and three days after cashing it the bank will be calling to reverse the deposit. The victim may have their $800 still but the $2000 they sent away through gift cards or by way of money transfer app is long, long, long gone. The victim is left owing the bank $2000.
So, when a person is explaining this process to you, and how real the scammers sounded, and how real the check looked, and how their cousin Phyllis from Utica once got paid to wrap their vehicle… you just want to scream “DID YOU REALLY THINK A COMPANY THAT DOES VINYL CAR WRAPS WANT TO BE PAID IN ITUNES GIFT CARDS?” Do you think they pay their employees with music downloads and Fortnite V-bucks????
But it's the scammer's fault. Let's not forget that.
Do you have a TP-Link router?
Anything on Reddit should be viewed with skepticism. Every so often, though, someone post something important. This user has determined that his TP-Link router is sending all of his Internet traffic to a security system operated by Avira - even though he has the service disabled on his router. It seems likely that if you use a TP-Link router all of your traffic is being intercepted by a third-party, whether you like it or not. https://old.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/tbthjj/psa_newer_tplink_routers_send_all_your_web/
Woman falls in love… with a crook
Rita fell in love with a man she met on Facebook. Too bad he was a fraud. In explaining why she was converting stolen money into bitcoin for him, “It was because he was supposed to be my boyfriend, he is supposed to be coming to me. We’re supposed to be getting married. I trusted him and believed him,” said Rita. “He’s on an oil rig, he’s on a contract and he can’t leave until his contract is finished.” Poor Rita. https://www.wate.com/investigations/east-tn-woman-says-scammer-tricked-into-her-laundering-money-through-bitcoin/
Ragin Bull$#!+
The Security Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined the operators of the online investment news and tips website RaginBull 2.45 million dollars for tricking users into signing up for services and then trapping them into hard-to-cancel subscription plans with costly charges. The group also tried to profit off the COVID-19 pandemic, with one trader claiming that he was able to “rack up nearly $500K in profits by trading stocks related to the COVID-19 pandemic”. You could learn his secret…with a subscription…that you couldn’t cancel. I suspect thats how he actually made $500K. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/03/online-investment-site-pay-more-24-million-bogus-stock-earnings-claims-hard-cancel-subscription
It’s a coin flip.
President Biden issued an executive order titled “Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets”. I actually took the time to read it and as suspected its a toss up. Some parts I was like ahhhh and some parts I was like ohhhh. Seriously, like most government government endeavors, it has honorable intent with a good base blueprint, BUT the built in bureaucracy is going to make it an absolute nightmare. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/09/executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-development-of-digital-assets/
The Rest…
The city of Fresno, California lost $400,000 to a phishing scam and was able to hide it for almost two years. They’re better at keeping secrets than security. https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article259205608.html
This report claims that Mexican drug cartels prefer banks to cryptocurrency for laundering their illicit profits. https://bitcoinist.com/is-bitcoin-a-tool-for-criminals-drug-cartels-prefer-banks/
This wretched woman is charged with money laundering and other charges related to scams which helped her purchase a $685,000 home. Included in her offenses is swindling $78,000 from a 94 year-old woman in a nursing home. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/york-woman-charged-money-laundering
Reader Mail
“I enjoy reading your blog. It might be helpful to sometimes explain acronyms or just write out what they are for some of us less educated readers. You obviously have a great deal of knowledge on the subjects you explore, but your readers might not be as advanced.”
Nix the acronyms. Copy.
“I subscribed a few weeks ago and just read my first edition after finding it in the spam folder. I suspect that every person with a @XX.gov email address is also having the newsletter sent to spam by default.”
Yep. I have a few dozen subscribers that have never opened an email. Stringent email security is probably the reason, but it could also be they subscribed only to be polite and really have no interest in the newsletter at all. Even odds I suspect.
Cool Tool
Possibly a better search engine? https://beta.seekr.com/
Find all of the court cases. Seriously, all of them. https://www.judyrecords.com/
Cool Job
Crypto-Blockchain Investigator: Zero#hash
https://zero-hash.breezy.hr/p/1511b394daf1-crypto-blockchain-investigator
Irrelevant
Pilot Frixion pens. An ink pen that actually is erasable. (And writes nice too) https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Pilot-FriXion-Erasable-Pens-A-Comprehensive-Guide/pt/670
Thank You for reading this weeks issue. Please consider sharing to help us grow.
Matt
“GOOD CONVERSATIONS WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE ARE LIFE CHANGING” - someone having better conversations than me.
