Tax Fraud Proceeds Intended for Overthrow of Government

In my mind, there is no doubt that the proceeds from financial crimes tie into funding terrorism. In Long Beach, a California based organization called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters was formed to seize control of the Cambodian Government. Their leader (Yasith Chun) has been arrested and is being charged with attempting to overthrow the government of Cambodia by military force. Apparently, he was funding this endeavor by running a fraudulent tax business using Southeast Asian immigrants to file fraudulent tax returns by claiming to have done menial labor and then putting in for the earned income credit exemption. This would net several thousand dollars a return. Yasith Chuth is also being charged with tax fraud. More information on this can be had by (clicking) on the title.

Fraudulent tax refund schemes appear to be on the rise and are another symptom of the identity theft crisis looming over all of us. In a previous story, I spoke of a scam uncovered where prisoners were doing this very same activity right under the noses of their guards and administrators. Here is a link to that post:

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/05/fraud-in-prison.html

This activity is a clear example of where our financial resources are being bilked not only by criminals from within, but in fact we are being targeted from abroad. Illegal immigration is literally breaking the backs of our social programs (which we pay for by taxes). Not only is it costing us all in benefits, but it also is a magnet for a wide range of other criminal activity. Some of the biggest victims are the illegal immigrants themselves, who are abused by the groups bringing them in the country. This is a clear problem and it is imperative in the post-911 era that we find viable and workable solutions to it.

In some respects, with the number of them (illegal immigrants) in country doing menial jobs, it might be deducted that businesses turns a blind eye to keep their labor costs low and that the average citizen is footing the bill for all of this when they pay their taxes.

Here are some earlier posts that relate to this:

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/05/how-deep-does-identity-theft-go.html

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/05/id-laws-and-increased-border-control.html

Industrial Trojan Fraud (Espionage) Discovered

The police in Israel have alleged that they uncovered a massive industrial spy ring using Trojan software to commit espionage against some of their leading companies. Eleven private investigators are under arrest, who were hired by the corporations to steal the information. It is expected that some of them will testify as witnesses for the state. Based on evidence already gathered, the police state they have gained access to FTP servers in Israel and the United States containing tens of thousands of confidential documents.

The Trojans are believed to have been implanted in e-mails and or CD's containing business proposals. Twenty one executives have been detained for questioning.

There are numerous companies involved. More information on this story can be found by "clicking" on the title, or by going to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The interesting twist to the story is that Israeli author (Amnon Jacont) became suspicious when his writing appeared on the internet, when he believed it had never left his PC. Jacont reported this to the authorities, who stumbled on the rest of the activity.

It is likely that upon further investigation, this crime has huge implications in several countries.

This brings to light that a lot of the technology used by criminals to commit crimes is freely available to those who would feign it is being used for legitimate purposes.

For more information on laws under consideration to combat this type of crime and links to some of the technology being abused, please visit a previous post on this blog.

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/05/spyware-bill-approved-by-house-of.html

More information can be found on various types of fraud by searching this blog, or the internet with the search box at the top of the page.

Spyware Bill Approved by House of Representatives

This appears to be a story that has received little attention from the media. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to introduce harsher penalties on those who spread "spyware" on our computer systems. Two bills introduced recommend large fines and prison sentences.

"Spyware" are programs injected (via e-mail and websites) into our computer systems, which are designed to record our browsing habits and sometimes lead to "phishing scams", where the intent is "identity theft". The bill would require permission to be obtained before "spyware" can be placed on a computer. Interestingly enough, these programs are used by a lot of so called legitimate companies. In my opinion, they are also very annoying. A recent survey revealed that 90 percent of the computers out there are infected with these programs.

There are a lot of programs out there to detect "spyware", such as Spybot and Adaware. Webroot and Symantec also have programs.

Spybot is free and can be found at: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html.

It's a shame this is getting little press. At a minimum, it is of great annoyance when used by advertisers, it also helps support criminal activity.

Here is an earlier post on Phishing. At the bottom is a link for a free tool bar designed to detect sites where criminals are "phishing and pharming" for information to steal identities. This comes compliments of the Netcraft Toolbar Community, which does a lot of good work in identifying these sites.

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/05/heroes-in-identity-theft-war.html

I would recommend supporting this by dropping a note to Congress. These bills are bound to be opposed by "Lobbyists", who represent legal corporations that use this technology to market their products. Even when it is for so called "legitimate use", it is an intrusion into our privacy and damages computer systems. These are systems, we spend our hard earned money on. In addition to this, it allows criminals to victimize individuals in what is considered the fastest growing crime of the century, identity theft. Here is a site where you can find the information to write your local representatives:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Parliment in the United Kingdom is also considering legislation to tighten up the laws on phishing and other computer crimes. Here is a story: http://news.millersmiles.co.uk/article/0046

Here is a site where our friends in the United Kingdom can write Parliment and show their support: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/

There are many more posts on Phishing and even Keyloggers on this blog. If you are interested go to the search box, either at the top or the bottom of this page and search for the relevant subject.