Scam
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 […]
Lost iPhone? Don’t fall for phishing texts saying it was found
The Swiss National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is warning iPhone owners about a phishing scam that claims to have found your lost or stolen iPhone but is actually trying to steal your Apple ID credentials. When iPhone customers lose their phone or it is stolen, they can set a custom message in Apple’s Find My app that appears on […]
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 […]
Meta launches new anti-scam tools for WhatsApp and Messenger
Meta has announced new tools to help WhatsApp and Messenger users protect themselves from potential scams and secure their accounts. On Messenger, the company has started testing more advanced scam-detection for suspicious chats that will warn users when a new contact sends a potentially scammy message, giving them the option to send recent messages for AI scam […]
U.S. sanctions cyber scammers who stole billions from Americans
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned several large networks of cyber scam operations in Southeast Asia, which stole over $10 billion from Americans last year. These operations, mainly those in Burma and Cambodia, are notorious for using forced labor, human trafficking, and physical violence, essentially operating as modern slavery farms that conduct online fraud. The […]
Perplexity’s Comet AI browser tricked into buying fake items online
A study looking into agentic AI browsers has found that these emerging tools are vulnerable to both new and old schemes that could make them interact with malicious pages and prompts. Agentic AI browsers can autonomously browse, shop, and manage various online tasks (like handling email, booking tickets, filing forms, or controlling accounts). Perplexity’s Comet is currently […]
Over $300 million in cybercrime crypto seized in anti-fraud effort
More than $300 million worth of cryptocurrency linked to cybercrime and fraud schemes has been frozen due to two separate initiatives involving law enforcement and private companies. One initiative is the T3+ Global Collaborator Program launched by the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a joint effort deployed almost a year ago by intelligence firm TRM […]
‘Chairmen’ of $100 million scam operation extradited to US
The U.S. Department of Justice charged four Ghanaian nationals for their roles in a massive fraud ring linked to the theft of over $100 million in romance scams and business email compromise attacks. The defendants were allegedly high-ranking members of a major international fraud ring based in Ghana that targeted companies and individuals across the United States […]
FTC: older adults lost record $700 million to scammers in 2024
Americans aged 60 and older lost a staggering $700 million to online scams in 2024, marking a sharp rise in fraud targeting seniors, according to the Federal Trade Commission. This figure, presented in the agency’s latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, represents an increase over all three categories of loss compared to previous years. Most notably, the […]