Fraud
Florida woman imprisoned for massive Microsoft license fraud scheme
A Florida woman was sentenced to 22 months in prison for running a massive years-long scheme to traffic thousands of stolen Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels. 52-year-old Heidi Richards (also known as Heidi Hastings, Heidi Shaffer, and Heidi Williams), who operated an e-commerce business called Trinity Software Distribution, was also ordered to pay a […]
Police arrests 651 suspects in African cybercrime crackdown
African law enforcement agencies arrested 651 suspects and recovered over $4.3 million in a joint operation targeting investment fraud, mobile money scams, and fake loan applications. As INTERPOL revealed on Wednesday, Operation Red Card 2.0 identified 1,247 victims between December 8 and January 30 while targeting cybercrime operations linked to over $45 million in financial […]
Fugitive behind $73M ‘pig butchering’ scheme gets 20 years in prison
A dual Chinese and St. Kitts and Nevis national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for his role in an international cryptocurrency investment scheme (also known as pig butchering or romance baiting) that defrauded victims of more than $73 million. In pig butchering scams, criminals use messaging apps, dating platforms, and social media accounts […]
Men charged in FanDuel scheme fueled by thousands of stolen identities
Two Connecticut men face federal charges for allegedly defrauding FanDuel and other online gambling sites of $3 million over several years using the stolen identities of approximately 3,000 victims. 29-year-olds Amitoj Kapoor and Siddharth Lillaney, both of Glastonbury, Connecticut, were arrested Thursday following a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury and were each […]
Crypto wallets received a record $158 billion in illicit funds last year
Illegal cryptocurrency flows reached a record $158 billion in 2025, reversing a three-year trend of declining amounts from $86B in 2021 to $64B in 2024. This sharp 145% increase is being reported by blockchain intelligence experts at TRM Labs, who noted that it comes despite the illicit activity share of the total on-chain volume actually falling […]
European authorities dismantle call center fraud ring in Ukraine
European law enforcement authorities dismantled a fraud network operating call centers in Ukraine that scammed victims across Europe out of more than 10 million euros. Authorities from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine (supported by Eurojust) arrested 12 suspects out of 45 identified during the investigation. They also seized 21 vehicles, weapons, a polygraph […]
FBI: Cybercriminals stole $262M by impersonating bank support teams
The FBI warned today of a massive surge in account takeover (ATO) fraud schemes and said that cybercriminals impersonating financial institutions have stolen over $262 million in ATO attacks since the start of the year. Since January 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received over 5,100 complaints, with the attacks impacting individuals, as well as businesses and organizations across […]
US announces new strike force targeting Chinese crypto scammers
U.S. federal authorities have established a new task force to disrupt Chinese cryptocurrency scam networks that defraud Americans of nearly $10 billion annually. The Scam Center Strike Force team, supported by agents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Secret Service, investigates and prosecutes criminal groups operating large-scale cryptocurrency investment […]
“Bitcoin Queen” gets 11 years in prison for $7.3 billion Bitcoin scam
A Chinese woman known as the “Bitcoin Queen” was sentenced in London to 11 years and eight months in jail for laundering Bitcoin from a £5.5 billion ($7.3 billion) cryptocurrency investment scheme. The sentence follows a seven-year investigation by the Met’s Economic Crime team into international money laundering, which revealed that the 47-year-old woman, Zhimin Qian […]
UK carriers to block spoofed phone numbers in fraud crackdown
Under a new partnership with the government aimed at combating fraud, Britain’s largest mobile carriers have committed to upgrading their networks to eliminate scammers’ ability to spoof phone numbers within a year. This agreement is part of the new Telecoms Charter, which brings together law enforcement, government agencies, and Britain’s top mobile networks, including BT […]