Fraud in the News

Fraud, the ‘jagged little pill’

According to the Jan. 19 The Hollywood Reporter article, Alanis Morissette Claims Ex-Business Manager Stole $4.7M, by Ashley Cullins, Morissette was robbed of at least $4.7 million by her former business manager, Jonathan Schwartz, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

According to the article, the singer is suing Schwartz and GSO Business Management for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud and negligence. Schwartz handled Morissette’s finances from 2009 to 2016 and was responsible for collecting income, managing investment accounts and paying bills on her behalf. According to the complaint, she fired him in March because Schwartz failed to respond in a timely manner to her requests for information about her finances.

According to the article, when Morissette’s new business manager took over, he found at least 116 cash transfers to Schwartz from her accounts during a four-year period, totaling more than $4.7 million.

Beware this Gmail hack

According to the Jan. 17 HackRead article, Gmail Phishing Scam Stealing Credentials Through Infected Attachment, by Uzair Amir, malicious threat actors are using exclusively designed URLs to deceive users into providing their Gmail credentials.

According to the article, the phishing attack involves sending infected messages to the contacts from an already-infected computer. The message contains a simple PDF file that is previewed from Gmail directly. Once the recipient clicks on the attachment, it leads to a Gmail phishing page.

According to a Jan. 12 WordFence blog post by Mark Maunder, you click on the image expecting Gmail to give you a preview of the attachment. Instead, a new tab opens and you are prompted by Gmail to sign in again. Once you complete the login, your account has been compromised.

Western Union to pay up for violations

According to the NPR article, Western Union Will Pay $586 Million For Aiding In Wire Fraud, Other Violations, by Rebecca Hersher on Jan. 19, the global money service company Western Union has admitted it helped people commit wire fraud, among other criminal violations, and agreed to pay $586 million.

According to the article, the settlement is the result of an investigation that found Western Union was “willfully failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

The article states that Western Union announced that the $586 million will go to the federal government “to be used to reimburse consumers who were victims of fraud during the relevant period.”

According to the article, one scheme described in the announcement involved “fraudsters” contacting people in the U.S. and posing as family members in need, or promising “prizes or job opportunities” if people sent money via Western Union.