Tag Archive for 'Fraud'

How NOT to get Conned

Published on March 28, 2011 in Due Diligence and Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Victims believe what they are told when someone says that a high rate of return is guaranteed. They don’t understand that a high rate of return equals a high risk.

Victims believe someone they know and trust. Familiar and trusted people are better able to victimize through their own ignorance or stupidity, or through concealed malice. Never let down your guard against this menace.

The victim thinks laws, regulators, and other government mechanisms will protect them. Nobody gives a damn about the individual victim. Educate yourself. If you don’t understand the investment, then don’t give them your money.

Victims don’t check the background of the people involved. Don’t give your money to people without the appropriate education and employment history. Don’t give your money to people with a history of bankruptcy, law suits, criminal prosecutions, and name changes.

Only in the U.S. — Pity

Published on March 17, 2011 in Fraud, Identity Fraud and Identity Theft. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Identity Theft Evidence Trail

In June 2004, the Cantwell/Enzi amendment of a federal bill called FACTA finally permitted ALL identity theft victims access to the credit applications and the transaction records in accounts opened fraudulently in their names. The reality is that once an account has been identified as fraudulent, the credit issuer must provide application and transaction information to you and to the designated police, as long as you send a police report with your request. That law is FCRA section 609(e).”

A Hacker’s Tale

Published on November 26, 2010 in Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A long but interesting article about Albert Gonzalez, the convicted hacker, in The New York Times Magazine.

After being caught due to the chance observations of a N.Y.P.D. Detective he worked by day for the U.S. Secret Service then went home and enriched himself using information from Secret Service investigations. He used information from government investigations to betray and set-up other hackers, all the while pocketing the money the other hackers paid him for credit card data.

The Secret Service let the fox into the hen-house for sure.

A very interesting read.

Fraud Not Important Enough to Prosecute In Ontario

Published on November 19, 2010 in Canada, Courts and Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Reading the following article makes me wonder what happened to Canada when the Crown refuses to prosecute Tzvi Erez for a $27 million Dollar Ponzi scheme. Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley obviously doesn’t understand that incompetence is the worst form of corruption.

Accused Ponzi schemer won’t be prosecuted

According to a Sept. 30 memo written by Tencer’s lawyer, Lou Brzezinski, assistant Crown attorney Donna Gillespie told him the charges were dropped “because the courts were tied up with more serious criminal matters [such as rape and murder].”

Brzezinski, whose client invested more than $1.2 million with Erez, claimed Gillespie said that “court time and availability of judges were insufficient … and as a result, hard choices had to be made.”

The Crown also suggested another reason charges were withdrawn was because the victim should have known better.

Assistant Crown attorney Gillespie echoed that consideration when she appeared before court to have the charges withdrawn.

Craigslist Scam Fighting

Published on February 19, 2010 in Craigslist and Fraud. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Top Craigslist scams and how not to be bamboozled

Craigslist does offer very sensible advice on how to recognize and avoid scams. The problem is many victims apparently don’t heed the advice. Don’t want to become one of these poor schmucks. Then pay careful heed.

Exposing scam artists who use Craigslist

I created this blog site to expose the scam artists, crooks, and their tactics that prey on honest hard working people on craigslist. I encourage you to share your stories and experiences with other people so that we may better serve the craigslist community, by making it a safer place.

The Canada Revenue Agency warns Canadians of mail scam

Published on February 8, 2010 in Canada and Fraud. 1 Comment Tags: , .

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information. The letter is not from the CRA. A PDF version of the letter is available on the CRA Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/alert.

Fake Bank Record Scam

Published on November 9, 2009 in Canada, Fraud, News and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Ex-cop, wife accused of faking bank records

Police say duo reeled in clients by claiming ex-spouses, relatives stashed money offshore

Cullen Johnson was a top Toronto cop.

Elaine White was a dogged investigator at a downtown accounting firm.

Now the husband and wife team of private detectives are accused of forging and selling bank records that make clients believe an ex-spouse, friend or employee has millions of dollars stashed offshore…

This is a case where the victims should have known what was on offer was too good to be true.

Secret sources always introduce reliability problems into an investigation or research project.

For example, is the source lying; does the source even know what he’s talking about; is the information old; and is this a trick of some kind? Is the secret source doing something illegal to obtain the information? Is the data fabricated?

Open sources, on the other hand, can be fact-checked in real-time through multiple sources. Open sources can be properly identified and the collection method can be explained fully.

Twyman’s Law

Remember, Twyman’s Law states:

Any piece of data or evidence that looks interesting or unusual is probably wrong!

Ponzi Schemes

Published on October 26, 2009 in Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: .

Ponzi schemes fall apart for two reasons. First, new investors disappear due to tight economic conditions and secondly, current investors want to withdraw their money  due to turmoil in the market. When this happens, the bottom falls out on these scams and there is no more money to pass on to the earlier investors. This leads to the crook grabbing whatever money was left before going on the lam.

Process Server Fraud Destroys Business

Published on August 17, 2009 in Courts, Fraud and News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Process Server Falsifies Affidavits of Service

Angus McEachern, a former process server for Minnesota based Major Legal Professional Process Serving is now facing trial for perjury for creating nearly 200 false affidavits of service.

As a result of this case John Bauer, the owner of Major Legal and  a professional process server for almost twenty years, is now dissolving the business due to the complete destruction of his local reputation.  “The defendant had been fully trained in process serving, but simply made the decision not to do his job. He was lazy; that’s what it comes down to,” Bauer said.

In my experience, this is not an isolated incident — this is more common than you might think.

Security Clearance Investigations Falsified

Published on April 14, 2009 in Fraud, News and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I noticed a post on The Daily Caveat about Investigators lying in the reports they submitted to the US Office of Personnel Management, which handles the background inquiries for more than 100 US government agencies. It is alleged that Investigators lied about interviews they didn’t conduct to earn more money. Some of the Investigators were working for contractors U.S. Investigation Services and Kroll.

For more details go to the The Washington Post article.

Business Identity Theft

Published on February 6, 2009 in Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: .

Previously, I’ve written about businesses having their identity stolen to commit frauds. This problem has existed for quite some time according to a 2004 LawPro article titled Corporate Fraud: identity theft with a difference.  This article outlines how a corporation’s filings may be altered and a false minute book created to defraud a company of its real estate holdings.

This situation is from Ontario, Canada, but it probably applies to many jurisdictions.

The Minority Opinion

Published on January 26, 2009 in Company Research, Competitive Intelligence and Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Jon Lowder at CI Marketplace writes that Lenny Fuld highlights the value of the contrarians in our midst when he explains why he’d like to meet a character in the Madoff mess:

No matter how certain, how comfortable you may be with an answer, a popular answer, an answer that comforts or confirms, you need to pay attention to … the minority and taking them seriously.

If you don’t like the content of a minority opinion, then find out if it is right through independent and impartial research!

Reformed Fraudster’s Top Ten Tips to Avoid Scams

Published on January 21, 2009 in Fraud. 0 Comments Tags: .

In October 2003, David Alexander was convicted of fraud. Today, Alexander is a reformed sinner, who tries to help companies avoid fraud. His top ten tips are a well thought-out guide to avoiding scams.

Alexander also maintains an interesting digest of fraud  news called The Fraud News Network.

Madoff and Due Diligence

Published on December 30, 2008 in Due Diligence, Fraud and News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The following post is an excellent example of how a disciplined due diligence process saved an investor from ruin.

If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

Actually, the formulation of that headline that I prefer these days is the famous inversion by the Nobel economist Paul Samuelson: “If you’re so rich how come you’re so dumb?”

And yes, that brings us promptly to the Bernard Madoff scandal.

But this week Barron’s brings us one: “Living to Tell About Madoff,” an interview with James Hedges (not, I assume, a stage name, although in the circumstances it ought to be), “president and founder of LJH Global Investments in Naples, Fla., who has invested billions in hedge funds and private equity since 1990 through relationships with numerous hedge funds.”

Eleven years ago, Hedges spent two hours meeting with Madoff in his New York office planning to invest a few billion dollars of his clients’ money. He walked out without a deal.

Here are some of the reasons why…

Craigslist Crooks

Published on April 10, 2008 in Dirty Tricks and Fraud. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

We have seen our share of weird cases involving Craigslist, but nothing like these: Continue reading ‘Craigslist Crooks’