Fraud scheme targets families of missing migrants and more

Fraud scheme targets families of missing migrants

The Spanish Civil Guard arrested 14 people for scheming to profit off families whose relatives went missing after attempting the risky migration to the Spanish coast by boat from North Africa. A network led by a man in Morocco allegedly used his political connections in North Africa to convince family members in Morocco and Algeria to pay the network to act as intermediaries with Spanish authorities and locate their relatives — in some cases identifying and taking pictures of their found bodies.

Instead, the group withheld nearly $77,000 in cash, vehicles and documents, which police seized during their search of 13 homes in Murcia, Almeria and inland Jaen. (See “Spain arrests 14 accused of defrauding families of missing migrants,” Reuters, March 13, 2024.)

FTC issues millions to defrauded students

In March, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refunded $4.1 million to more than 27,000 victims of student debt forgiveness scams. According to the FTC, Mission Hills Federal and Federal Direct Group have tricked student borrowers since 2014 into paying hundreds and thousands upfront on the pretense of lowering their monthly payments and overall student loan balances.

The FTC, which previously issued refunds to victims of the Ameritech Financial scheme and similar scams in 2023, urges struggling students to seek legitimate assistance programs to help with debt. (See “FTC to send $4.1 million to over 27,000 borrowers defrauded by student loan forgiveness scams,” by Kamaron McNair, CNBC, March 13, 2024.)

Woman uses TikTok to get money back after scammers impersonate her bank

Whitney Houchin recently shared her story on TikTok of how scammers, who pretended to be her bank, tricked her into giving them $10,000. A friendly person, calling from a number Houchin recognized as the one she’d saved for her bank (the scammers had spoofed the phone number), told her that someone was attempting to withdraw money from her account via an out-of-state ATM, and transfers were also coming out of her savings. Houchin said the operator told her the bank could freeze her accounts if she’d read back three codes it had texted to her. An hour later, Houchin got a notification that a wire transfer from her Discover account had gone through, but when she reached her actual bank it told her that it hadn’t called her earlier and knew nothing about the transfer. The scammers had used the three codes to transfer her money to themselves.

Discover couldn’t retrieve the $10,000. Houchin said the company told her it was only accountable for unauthorized transactions. But she complained to multiple U.S. federal agencies, and after her story went viral on TikTok, her bank told her it would finally put the money back into her account. (See “Woman Loses $10K After Scammers Pose as Her Bank. Now She Reveals How She Mistakenly Gave Them Full Access,” by Angela Andaloro, People, March 15, 2024.)