Fraud Headlines
2014 Articles
April
Medicare Fraud “Tourism” Hits Miami
Miami's reputation as the capital of healthcare corruption is so well known that a Medicare fraud “tourist” traveled from Tampa to cash in. (Miami Herald)
IRS Whistleblower Payouts Down, Critics Say Program Too Slow
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service reported it made progress last year in rewarding tax whistleblowers with a few big cash payouts, but critics said the tax agency is still struggling to act quickly on informants' tips. (Reuters)
Identity Fraud And Cybercrime Cost Irish Firms Over €600m
Reports of data breaches are mounting in Ireland as both foreign and Irish criminals infiltrate business computer systems. (Independent)
March
5 Ex-Madoff Employees Found Guilty
After nearly 6 months on trial, Bernard Madoff's former employees were found guilty of participating in the world's biggest Ponzi scheme. (CNN)
10 Ways To Fight Digital Theft & Fraud
Bankers, security experts, and a former White House CIO offer proactive advice (Information Week)
IRS Watchdog Warns Of ‘Largest Scam Of Its Kind’ With Agency Impersonators
The Internal Revenue Service watchdog on Thursday warned taxpayers of a sophisticated nationwide phone scheme that has become “the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen.” (Washington Post)
Haste Clouds Long-Term Effort On Mortgage Fraud
A report issued by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, underscores the danger of extolling short-term results when it comes to prosecuting white-collar crimes. (New York Times)
Top States With The Most Fraud Complaints
Fraud and scams cost Americans more than $1.6 billion last year. According to a report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there were more than 2 million cases of fraud in 2013, down slightly from the previous year. (USA Today)
Hackers Hit Mt. Gox Exchange's CEO, Claim To Publish Evidence Of Fraud
The Bitcoin community has been angrily pressing for details on what the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has described as a massive hacker attack that stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of its users’ bitcoins and left the company bankrupt. (Forbes)
Judge Says Ecuador's $9.5 Billion Settlement Against Chevron Was Fraud
A U.S. federal judge ruled that legal proceedings in Ecuador leading to a $9.5 billion judgement against Chevron for polluting the Amazon were fraudulent and carried out with mafia-like racketeering. (Newsweek)
Class-Action Suit Charges Mt. Gox With Fraud, Seeks Return Of Users' Bitcoins
The exchange committed fraud by not properly handling a hacking attack, the suit alleges. (Computerworld)
February
Ponzi Scheme Investors Can Sue In State Courts
Because what they bought were not "covered securities," investors' claims are not blocked by federal jurisdiction over securities fraud class actions. (USA Today)
SEC Goes To Bat For Whistleblowers
The Securities and Exchange Commission says whistleblowers who report internally are protected against employee retaliation. (CFO.com)
Founder Of World's Largest Megachurch Convicted Of Embezzling $12 Million
David Yonggi Cho, founder of South Korea's Yoido Full Gospel Church, has been sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling $12 million in church funds, . (Huffington Post)
Five Years Since Stimulus: Many Fraud Cases, Few Losses
An unprecedented focus on transparency and fraud prevention may have avoided billions in scams. (USA Today)
Study: Companies Still Lag In Third-Party Due Diligence Efforts
Corruption and bribery risks posed by third-parties are expanding rapidly for global companies, and yet compliance and legal departments are still lagging on the due diligence they perform on their third parties. (Compliance Week)
17-Year-Old Fired From Walmart Scams Store Out Of $39,000, Police Say
A 17-year-old Oklahoma boy fired from Walmart for stealing scammed the superstore out of thousands of dollars, authorities said. (Huffington Post)
Identity Fraud Hits New Victim Every Two Seconds
The number of identity fraud victims jumped to 13.1 million in 2013, a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research finds. That's an increase of 500,000 from 2012 and the second highest number of victims since Javelin began conducting its annual study in 2004. (CNN Money)
Mathew Martoma Found Guilty Of Engaging In Unprecedented Insider Trading Scheme
Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at billionaire Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund, was found guilty on Thursday of engaging in what prosecutors called the most lucrative insider trading scheme in U.S. history. (Huffington Post)
Telemarketing Fraud On The Rise As Scammers Find Ways To Call Millions
Telemarketing fraud is making a major comeback, says the National Consumers League. In more than 36 percent of all consumer complaints in 2013, victims were contacted by phone. (Dallas News)
EU Corruption Costing Economy £100bn A Year
Corruption across the Europe costs £99 billion (€120bn) a year, the European Commission has estimated in a report that urged Britain to do more to fight foreign bribery. (The Telegraph)
Recruiting Fraud, Kickback Scandal Rocks Army
More than 800 soldiers are under criminal investigation for gaming a National Guard program that paid hundreds of millions in bonuses to soldiers who persuaded friends to sign up during the darkest years of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (USA Today)
January
Conman Minkow Convicted Of Fraud...Again
A man who went from teenage millionaire to convicted con artist to professional fraud fighter and pastor was convicted Wednesday of cheating his San Diego church congregation out of some $3 million. (CNBC)
As Target Fallout Continues, Incidents Of Fraud Emerge
With Target's security breach, thieves didn't stop at swiping payment card numbers belonging to 40 million customers. Criminals also stole data, such as addresses and emails, for up to 70 million Target shoppers. Unfortunately, the data breach may end up creating a bigger headache if criminals use it for identity theft. (CBS News)
Phone-Fraud Schemes Using High-Tech Net Tactics
New technology has led to an onslaught of Internet-inspired fraud tactics that try to use telephone calls to dupe millions of people or to overwhelm switchboards for essential public services, causing deep concern among law enforcement and other groups. (Boston Globe)
Target Breach Spurs Push For Anti-Fraud Card Technology
U.S. banks and merchants face mounting pressure to catch up with technology used in Europe, Asia and Latin America to secure credit- and debit-card data after tens of millions of Target customers were exposed. (Bloomberg)
Three Former Rabobank Traders Charged In Libor Case
The Justice Department filed criminal charges against three former traders from the Dutch lender Rabobank, the latest step in the wide-ranging investigation into the banking industry’s manipulation of interest rates. (New York Times)
JPMorgan Expected To Pay $2B For Role In Madoff Case
JPMorgan Chase is expected to pay approximately $2 billion in civil and criminal settlements to settle government suspicions that the global bank ignored signs of Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme. (USA Today)
Investment Fraud Is Booming Along With Oil And Gas Drilling, SEC Says
Oil and gas fraud has been around as long as the industry itself. But with the oil and gas boom on and news reports of big discoveries proliferating, securities fraud cases are increasing, the Securities and Exchange Commission warns. (Dallas News)
It's Not Just Hacking Threats; Small Businesses Face Low-Tech Fraud
A recent missive from the FBI demonstrates that Main Street shops can also face cruder threats, with fraudsters using aluminum wrap to block merchants’ credit card satellite antennae, abetting purchases with phony cards. (Businessweek)
No More Mr. Nice Guys: SEC Sharpens Talons For 2014
A casual observer of Securities and Exchange Commission trends could be forgiven for concluding that the SEC has lost interest in pursuing enforcement of financial reporting regulations. In fact, the commission is intent on bringing record numbers of such cases and has some new tools and resources for doing so. (CFO)
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