Cento accused of cooking up misleading tomato labels and more

Plaintiffs claim ‘tomato fraud’ in proposed class action lawsuit

A proposed class action lawsuit filed in California accuses well-known Italian food distributor Cento Fine Foods of selling inauthentic, inferior products marketed and labeled as “San Marzano Certified.” Plaintiffs are seeking a judgment of more than $25 million to compensate allegedly deceived consumers.

San Marzano tomatoes possess the Protected Designation of Origin quality seal, a European Union regulation that ensures consumers are purchasing authentic products with qualities, characteristics and production tied to a specific geographic region. San Marzano tomatoes, grown in the Sarno River valley near Naples, Italy, are a variety of plum tomato famous for their sweetness, intense flavor and balanced acidity level. Il Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano DOP, an independent consortium, regulates the sale of San Marzano tomatoes. The lawsuit alleges Cento products lack the consortium’s certification and therefore can’t be considered authentic. Cento, which stopped seeking the consortium’s certification more than a decade ago, describes the allegations as meritless.

In 2020, Cento successfully defended a comparable lawsuit filed in New York. A federal judge dismissed the case, stating that a reasonable consumer wouldn’t be inclined to seek out a tomato specifically labeled as “Consortium certified” if another met the same standards but had been certified by a different organization.

Phony FIFA sites generate millions in global phishing scheme

Cybersecurity tech firm Group-IB identified an elaborate Chinese-language phishing as-a-service platform, dubbed GHOST STADIUM, as the perpetrator of a scheme that defrauded soccer fans out of $470 million to $1 billion during the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on June 11, 2026. At least 47,000 victims purchased nonexistent premium tickets that cost up to $10,000 each.

GHOST STADIUM’s phishing kit can clone FIFA’s official website “pixel-perfectly,” even replicating its login system. Fans who enter their details risk having their accounts hijacked and their stolen credentials later sold on dark web marketplaces. More than 4,000 fraudulent domains have been registered since 2025, allowing scammers to quickly replace sites as others are shut down. The campaign is fueled by targeted social media ads promoting too-good-to-be-true deals that lure fans desperate for tickets. To raise awareness of the scheme, the FBI issued a warning about spoofed FIFA websites and ticket scams, alerting fans to look out for fake domains and phishing pages.

Europol shuts down VPN powering ransomware groups

First VPN, a service widely used by ransomware groups and other cyber criminals to hide their identities and illegal activity from law enforcement, was taken down in a coordinated campaign led by authorities in France and the Netherlands with support from Europol and Eurojust. The VPN, designed specifically to provide anonymous payments and concealed infrastructure for illegal use, had been heavily promoted on Russian-speaking cybercrime forums.

According to Europol, First VPN was deeply embedded in the cybercrime ecosystem and had been linked to nearly every major cybercrime investigation the organization supported in recent years. Authorities, who’d been investigating the service since 2021, infiltrated its infrastructure, which spanned servers in 27 countries, and arrested the administrator. Investigators gained access to First VPN’s user database, which generated leads tied to ransomware, fraud and data theft cases worldwide, advancing numerous ongoing investigations.

Embattled Evergrande founder pleads guilty to fraud

Hui Ka Yan, founder of China-based property developer Evergrande, pleaded guilty to unauthorized acceptance of deposits, fraud and corporate bribery at a public hearing in Shenzhen, China. Chinese regulators accused the property developer of fabricating sales figures that significantly inflated revenues by $78 billion in 2019 and 2020. In 2024, Hui was fined 47 million yuan ($6.5 million) and barred for life from securities markets. That same year Evergrande’s liabilities exceeded $300 billion, prompting a Hong Kong court to order its liquidation.

Season’s cheatings: SantaCon president arrested for fraud

Federal prosecutors in New York arrested SantaCon President Stefan Pildes amid allegations that he used the widely attended, charity-branded Christmas pub crawl as a fraud vehicle. The indictment accuses him of one count of wire fraud, alleging that he channeled more than $1 million in public donations into a personal “slush fund” instead of legitimate causes.

Pildes allegedly diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable proceeds to an entity he controlled, Creative Opportunities Group, to pay for luxury travel and vacations, renovations to a New Jersey property, a Manhattan apartment lease, and investments and entertainment expenses. Of the approximately $2.7 million raised by SantaCon, charities received “only a small fraction” in donations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Pildes pleaded not guilty and was released on a $300,000 bond. He’s barred from promoting and organizing SantaCon as a condition of his release. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Crystal Zuzek, CFE, is associate editor of Fraud Magazine. Contact her at czuzek@acfe.com.