His name is Michael Smith. He lives in Houston, Texas, in a single-family home. He was born on August 17th, 1991. And he is 100% fake. According to a new study released by Socure, this profile is the most likely to be used in a synthetic identity. The study, authored by legendary synthetic expert Mike Cook, warns that if synthetic identity fraud continues to go unchecked, losses will double from the estimated $2.48 billion this year to nearly $5 billion in 2024. Synthetic Identity – It Started With Tumbling In the report, Socure outlines the history of synthetic identity, which had its roots i ..read more

This will go down as a romance scam for the ages. It is literally out of this world. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, a daily newspaper out of Japan, a 65-year-old woman was defrauded of a total of 4.4 million yen by a man claiming to be a Russian Astronaut. The woman met the pretend Russian Astronaut on Instagram on June 28. This man explained that he was working on the “International Space Station” and sent lovey-dovey messages to the woman, such as “I want to start my life in Japan” and “Even if I say it 1000 times, I won’t get it, but I will keep saying it. I love you.” The woman fell fo ..read more

He’s a Fraud Analyst at Point Predictive, and he just exposed a sinister scheme that impacts lenders worldwide. What did he do? He went undercover, helping Auto Finance News Investigative Journalist expose the problem of CPNs, fake paystubs, and fraudulent employment verification. To expose the fraud, the journalist created a fake identity under the name Shanae Cohen, purchased a CPN to make the identity real, and then purchased paystubs along with employment verification. The recording of the call appeared on The Auto Finance Roadmap Podcast and shows you exactly what one might sound like. T ..read more

Mortgage fraud in Canada is skyrocketing as interest rates rise. Borrowers simply can’t qualify so the sharks are out now providing forged paperwork to help them get into homes. To see how bad it is getting, CBC News Canada went undercover to investigate how networks of real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and bank employees perpetrate mortgage fraud for a fee and secure their own commissions by submitting forged documents for approval. To do that, they sent two reporters to visit 10 properties for sale by real estate agents or brokerages where previous research indicated fraud may occur.&nbs ..read more

An article that appeared in the New York Times reports that Senator Warren has sent a letter to Charles Scharf, the CEO of Wells Fargo, to address what she calls “troubling information” about Zelle fraud and scams at the bank. According to Warren, “Customers are reporting fraud and scams on the bank’s Zelle platform at a rate that is nearly 2.5 times higher this year than it was in 2019 and that the rate of reported fraud and scams this year is more than twice as high for Wells customers than it is for customers of other banks. But Wells Fargo disputes the findings in the letter from Warren an ..read more

If you don’t have the nerve to lie to online merchants about a package you “never received” – don’t worry. Friendly fraud hitmen are standing by to serve you. For a small fee of course. Professional refunders are sprouting up everywhere offering to help you get your money back for orders you placed online, and received. They will contact the merchant after you receive the item, claim fraud, and get your money back for you. They’ll do the dirty work, so you don’t have too. The fee for the service? Typically, anywhere from 15% to 40% of the total refunded amount. A New Report Finds Professi ..read more

What is an Inny? The first time I noticed it was about a year ago. At the time, an advertisement for fraud services on telegram caught my eye. “T-Mobile Inny available now DM for Sim Swaps”. I had never heard the term “Inny” but based on the telegram post it was obvious what they meant. They were selling access to insiders that could swap Sim Cards using their privileged access on the customer management systems at these companies. Innys Use Their Access to Internal Systems to Swap Sims While most sim swapping at carriers is due to sophisticated social engineering by fraudsters calling into ca ..read more

A letter dated September 22nd from Michelle Mesack, Head of Government Relations for JP Morgan Chase, to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee provides more interesting facts on Zelle fraud and scams. The letter is interesting because it provides more hard numbers around Zelle fraud and scams yet and gives insight into how a major bank reimburses customers according to Regulation E. Here are Some Of The More Interesting Facts In The Letter Chase Prevents $5 Billion in Fraud A Year Chase reported to the committee that they stop over $5 billion in fraud attempts each ..read more

Bleeping Computer reports that a “dark web carding market named ‘BidenCash’ has released a massive dump of 1,221,551 credit cards to promote their marketplace, allowing anyone to download them for free to conduct financial fraud.” BidenCash is the name of a dark web marketplace for trafficking stolen credit cards, and they are providing the massive giveaway of credit card numbers to promote their shop. The promotion was first spotted last Friday by cybersecurity firm D3 Lab. According to the report, the freely circulating file contains a mix of “fresh” cards expiring between 2023 and 2026 fro ..read more

This week officials in California announced the arrests of 56 people across Southern California allegedly involved in a long-running mail- and check-fraud scheme that officials say bilked more than 700 victims out of nearly $5 million. The suspects — who operated out of multiple counties across California, including Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County — allegedly altered stolen checks, deposited them into bank accounts, then quickly withdrew money from ATMs before the banks discovered the checks were forged. The California Department of Justice (DOJ) charged the suspects with felony g ..read more