There is a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that terrorists and organized criminals are involved in the business of fraud. In Great Britain, they are taking measures to address this problem.
Michael Smith of the Sunday Times reports:
"A NATIONAL fraud squad is being set up to tackle organised crime and to choke off funding for terrorists."
"The unit will act like the old Scotland Yard murder squad, being dispatched to forces lacking the manpower or expertise to investigate fraud."
"Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, will announce proposals tomorrow for the City of London police economic crime unit to take responsibility for investigating fraud throughout England and Wales."
"A national reporting centre is to be set up to collect intelligence on links between financial crime and terrorists. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau will link the police and other government investigators with databases provided by the banks, insurance and credit card companies to cut the more than £14 billion annual cost of fraud."
For the full report by Michael Smith, link here.
Recently, the head of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) made a plea for additional funding to do the same thing.
Link, here.
And the FBI has been saying this for at least a couple of years now.
Link, here.
Here is the previous post, I did on that matter:
Do Financial Crimes and Internet Fraud Fund Terrorism
My only comment is that a lot of experts seem to agree on this.
Fraud is no longer a "low level" crime done by small time con artists and teenagers!
Saturday, July 22, 2006
The Financial Data Protection Act Doesn't Protect the Citizen
Many states have passed legislation, where mandatory notification of consumers is the "law" when personal information is stolen. Now Congress will probably "nullify" a lot of this with the Financial Data Protection Act.
Here is a release by Press Wire:
Next week, the leadership of the House of Representatives plans to vote on "The Financial Data Protection Act," a controversial and weak version of data security legislation that would strip consumers of their existing state rights to protect themselves against identity theft.
"It's shocking that at a time when data breaches are in the headlines daily and consumers are at greater risk than ever for identity theft, Congress would choose to vote on a bill that would strip consumers of their existing identity theft protections," said Susanna Montezemolo, policy analyst with Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "Congress should be helping consumers prevent identity theft, not making things worse," she added.
Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, added: "The states have given consumers strong identity theft protections, but Congress wants to take those rights away with this industry-approved bill that won't prevent data breaches and won't scare identity thieves into going straight. If House leadership is using this bill as a message, the message is quite simple: consumers lose out."
To understand why there are some - who would want to weaken this legislation - all one needs to do is look at the companies, who have been losing everyone's information.
Credit bureaus and the financial services industry have been making billions selling "personal information" for years.
According to the Privacy Rights Organization, which has monitoring these breaches, almost 90 million Americans have had their identities compromised. You can view their chronology, here. Note that in some of the breaches (the number was unknown) so the actual number of people compromised might be higher.
There are a few flaws (my opinion) in the current legislation. The new laws will allow companies, institutions and organizations to decide - via an internal investigation - whether disclosure is warranted, and gives them 45 days to report it if there is a "reasonable risk" of identity theft. If we look at this from a historical perspective (organizations reporting themselves), we are in a lot of trouble.
The law reeks of allowing the "foxes to watch the chicken coop."
The other thing that bothers me is the impact this might have on our safety and security. There is little doubt that the "identity theft" business is booming and controlled by organized crime.
Here is a previous post, I wrote about that:
Mexican Organized Crime Ring is Mass Producing Fake Documents - and Considers Terrorism an American Problem
In a era - where we are concerned about "border security and terrorism" - this law doesn't make sense.
So far as "making sense," here is a post I did regarding why some of this criminal activity has become so lucrative:
Are We Addressing Cyber Crime from the Wrong End
The Consumers Union recommends you write your representative to express your displeasure. You can do so on their website.
Here is a release by Press Wire:
Next week, the leadership of the House of Representatives plans to vote on "The Financial Data Protection Act," a controversial and weak version of data security legislation that would strip consumers of their existing state rights to protect themselves against identity theft.
"It's shocking that at a time when data breaches are in the headlines daily and consumers are at greater risk than ever for identity theft, Congress would choose to vote on a bill that would strip consumers of their existing identity theft protections," said Susanna Montezemolo, policy analyst with Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "Congress should be helping consumers prevent identity theft, not making things worse," she added.
Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, added: "The states have given consumers strong identity theft protections, but Congress wants to take those rights away with this industry-approved bill that won't prevent data breaches and won't scare identity thieves into going straight. If House leadership is using this bill as a message, the message is quite simple: consumers lose out."
To understand why there are some - who would want to weaken this legislation - all one needs to do is look at the companies, who have been losing everyone's information.
Credit bureaus and the financial services industry have been making billions selling "personal information" for years.
According to the Privacy Rights Organization, which has monitoring these breaches, almost 90 million Americans have had their identities compromised. You can view their chronology, here. Note that in some of the breaches (the number was unknown) so the actual number of people compromised might be higher.
There are a few flaws (my opinion) in the current legislation. The new laws will allow companies, institutions and organizations to decide - via an internal investigation - whether disclosure is warranted, and gives them 45 days to report it if there is a "reasonable risk" of identity theft. If we look at this from a historical perspective (organizations reporting themselves), we are in a lot of trouble.
The law reeks of allowing the "foxes to watch the chicken coop."
The other thing that bothers me is the impact this might have on our safety and security. There is little doubt that the "identity theft" business is booming and controlled by organized crime.
Here is a previous post, I wrote about that:
Mexican Organized Crime Ring is Mass Producing Fake Documents - and Considers Terrorism an American Problem
In a era - where we are concerned about "border security and terrorism" - this law doesn't make sense.
So far as "making sense," here is a post I did regarding why some of this criminal activity has become so lucrative:
Are We Addressing Cyber Crime from the Wrong End
The Consumers Union recommends you write your representative to express your displeasure. You can do so on their website.
Get Stopped for a Traffic Violation - Become an Identity Theft Victim
Here's a scary story, where people being stopped for traffic violations were having their information (obtained for the tickets) sold in an identity theft scheme.
The Boston Police Officers behind this were also (allegedly) involved in narcotics, fraudulent gift cards, smuggling illegal immigrants, identity theft, sponsoring after hour parties with prostitutes, selling steroids, insurance fraud, trafficking in stolen electronics and "fixing" traffic tickets.
I wonder if the people who paid to have their traffic ticket "fixed," had their identities sold afterwards?
The AP is reporting (courtesy of KATV Boston):
"Three Boston police officers accused of taking $35,000 in exchange for protecting a cocaine shipment were arrested in Miami on federal drug charges in an FBI (website) sting operation, authorities said Friday. Roberto Pulido, 41, Carlos Pizarro, 36, and Nelson Carrasquillo, 35, were arrested late Thursday in Miami. Authorities described Pulido as the ringleader and said he was involved in a broad range of other illegal activities, from identity theft to smuggling illegal immigrants to selling steroids."
"Pulido allegedly provided names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of more than 160 people to the group, according to the affidavit. He is accused of getting the information by running the license plates of people he stopped or arrested."
Full story, here.
There seems to be a lot of public officials getting caught with their hands in the "cookie jar." Recently, the FBI added a page where anyone can report misdeeds involving public officials.
Link, here.
Quite frankly, it saddens me to see how many public officials seem to be getting caught. After all, most of us were brought up to believe these people had a higher calling in life.
On the other hand, if it weren't for "good people" in law enforcement, they would still be out doing these shameful deeds.
The Boston Police Officers behind this were also (allegedly) involved in narcotics, fraudulent gift cards, smuggling illegal immigrants, identity theft, sponsoring after hour parties with prostitutes, selling steroids, insurance fraud, trafficking in stolen electronics and "fixing" traffic tickets.
I wonder if the people who paid to have their traffic ticket "fixed," had their identities sold afterwards?
The AP is reporting (courtesy of KATV Boston):
"Three Boston police officers accused of taking $35,000 in exchange for protecting a cocaine shipment were arrested in Miami on federal drug charges in an FBI (website) sting operation, authorities said Friday. Roberto Pulido, 41, Carlos Pizarro, 36, and Nelson Carrasquillo, 35, were arrested late Thursday in Miami. Authorities described Pulido as the ringleader and said he was involved in a broad range of other illegal activities, from identity theft to smuggling illegal immigrants to selling steroids."
"Pulido allegedly provided names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of more than 160 people to the group, according to the affidavit. He is accused of getting the information by running the license plates of people he stopped or arrested."
Full story, here.
There seems to be a lot of public officials getting caught with their hands in the "cookie jar." Recently, the FBI added a page where anyone can report misdeeds involving public officials.
Link, here.
Quite frankly, it saddens me to see how many public officials seem to be getting caught. After all, most of us were brought up to believe these people had a higher calling in life.
On the other hand, if it weren't for "good people" in law enforcement, they would still be out doing these shameful deeds.
Aids Cure, Another Lure in the Internet Fraud Saga
Research has come a long way since Aids was discovered in the early 80's, but no cure has been found yet.
SophosLabs is reporting that a new advance fee (spam) e-mail is circulating claiming to have found a cure for aids. Here is what they have to say:
"However, Sophos warns computer users that this is a ruse to steal personal details, and that the fraudsters behind the scam campaign can use such information to steal money from bank accounts and commit identity fraud."
"People who receive this email may believe they are helping the world fight AIDS, as well as potentially make themselves some money from the proceeds of any distribution of a successful cure. However, the scammers are just using another method to try to dupe computer users into divulging sensitive information," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos. "It's particularly sick of the hackers to exploit human illness in their search for innocent computer users to fleece."
"This email con-trick is the latest of many 419 scams. These scams are named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code where many of the scams originated and are unsolicited emails where the author offers a large amount of money. Once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities, and financial theft."
There is a copy of the letter on the alert from Sophos.
Unfortunately, the alert - which contains the e-mail in question - is cut-off before it is clear exactly what the scam entails. It also makes references to stealing personal information (identity theft) - which can be done via "social engineering," or by visiting a "rogue website" and picking up some malware on your system.
I decided to "dig a little deeper" and used one of my favorite tools, "Google."
Sure enough, I was able to find more information on this - including "WHOIS" data regarding the origin of the e-mails. Interestingly enough, this version of the scam has been around for since February, 2005. The e-mail in the Sophos alert was dated this month (July).
This version was reported by Joe Wein, who runs a Japanese software company that sells spam and on-line fraud protection.
In this version, the e-mail using a UK e-mail address from a IP address in Nigeria. The letter claims to be from an Indian doctor.
It appears Joe corresponded with the scammer and the lure to obtain personal information appears to be of a "social engineering" (human con) type. The e-mail asks for patients medical information, which in turn will probably be used for "identity theft" purposes.
The additional e-mails also mentions having the "aids drugs" sent to people. Please note that there also is a big problem with the sale of "useless" counterfeit drugs on the Internet. Most of us get spam e-mails about this all the time, at least in our spam filters.
In both of the e-mails, I was unable to find any "direction" to a "rogue site," which might install spyware, malware, or crimeware on a computer.
If you would like to view this version, link here.
Having the proper protection on your computer is extremely important, but being knowledgeable of "social engineering" is critical, also.
The term "buyer beware" (caveat emptor) is a good thing to think about before proceeding with a transaction on the Internet. A little "digging" and verifying facts is prudent, also.
"If it's too good to be true - it might not be."
SophosLabs is reporting that a new advance fee (spam) e-mail is circulating claiming to have found a cure for aids. Here is what they have to say:
"However, Sophos warns computer users that this is a ruse to steal personal details, and that the fraudsters behind the scam campaign can use such information to steal money from bank accounts and commit identity fraud."
"People who receive this email may believe they are helping the world fight AIDS, as well as potentially make themselves some money from the proceeds of any distribution of a successful cure. However, the scammers are just using another method to try to dupe computer users into divulging sensitive information," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos. "It's particularly sick of the hackers to exploit human illness in their search for innocent computer users to fleece."
"This email con-trick is the latest of many 419 scams. These scams are named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code where many of the scams originated and are unsolicited emails where the author offers a large amount of money. Once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities, and financial theft."
There is a copy of the letter on the alert from Sophos.
Unfortunately, the alert - which contains the e-mail in question - is cut-off before it is clear exactly what the scam entails. It also makes references to stealing personal information (identity theft) - which can be done via "social engineering," or by visiting a "rogue website" and picking up some malware on your system.
I decided to "dig a little deeper" and used one of my favorite tools, "Google."
Sure enough, I was able to find more information on this - including "WHOIS" data regarding the origin of the e-mails. Interestingly enough, this version of the scam has been around for since February, 2005. The e-mail in the Sophos alert was dated this month (July).
This version was reported by Joe Wein, who runs a Japanese software company that sells spam and on-line fraud protection.
In this version, the e-mail using a UK e-mail address from a IP address in Nigeria. The letter claims to be from an Indian doctor.
It appears Joe corresponded with the scammer and the lure to obtain personal information appears to be of a "social engineering" (human con) type. The e-mail asks for patients medical information, which in turn will probably be used for "identity theft" purposes.
The additional e-mails also mentions having the "aids drugs" sent to people. Please note that there also is a big problem with the sale of "useless" counterfeit drugs on the Internet. Most of us get spam e-mails about this all the time, at least in our spam filters.
In both of the e-mails, I was unable to find any "direction" to a "rogue site," which might install spyware, malware, or crimeware on a computer.
If you would like to view this version, link here.
Having the proper protection on your computer is extremely important, but being knowledgeable of "social engineering" is critical, also.
The term "buyer beware" (caveat emptor) is a good thing to think about before proceeding with a transaction on the Internet. A little "digging" and verifying facts is prudent, also.
"If it's too good to be true - it might not be."
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