scam

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Insurance Broker Scams Tom Hanks, Goes to Jail

Jerry Goldman sentenced to 27 months

(Newser) - A Southern California insurance broker who overcharged Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, hundreds of thousands of dollars has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison. City News Service says Jerry Goldman received a 27-month sentence yesterday. He also was ordered to pay about $840,000...

Couple &#39;Win&#39; Vacation, End Up as Drug Mules
Couple 'Win' Vacation,
End Up as Drug Mules
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 27, 2013 6:27 AM CDT

Couple 'Win' Vacation, End Up as Drug Mules

Canadian arrested in connection with bogus trip contest

(Newser) - If an all-expenses paid trip to Canada, including accommodations and new luggage, sounds too good to be true, well, hindsight is 20/20. An Australian couple thought they'd won a dream vacation when they were revealed as the "lucky" winners of a contest they'd entered online. It turns...

eBay Scammers Made $3M in Fake Car Sales: FBI

Romanian ringleader now being sought

(Newser) - The FBI has a new wanted man—a 33-year-old Romanian accused of leading a ring of scammers who made $3 million selling non-existent vehicles on sites such as eBay and Cars.com, reports CNN . Nicolae Popescu allegedly found plenty of victims between 2011 and 2012. Authorities say he and his...

Pot's New Growing Pains: Financial Scams

Wall Street agency warns investors about shady investment offers

(Newser) - Another sign that the marijuana industry is getting all grown up: Financial scammers are moving in. The agency that regulates Wall Street is warning investors about an increase in iffy investment pitches, reports the Los Angeles Times . So if you get any emails from marijuana start-ups urging you to act...

Fake Bank Scamming Victims Out of Hundreds

People deposit up to $900 for semi-secured credit cards they never receive

(Newser) - A new scam is bilking people looking to rebuild their credit rating out of hundreds of dollars by offering semi-secured credit cards then pocketing their deposits, TheStreet reports. The Treasury has sent a letter to US bank executives and federal and state regulators warning them of the scam, run by...

Kickstarter Users Uncover Huge Scam on ... Kickstarter

$120K pledged to sham Kobe beef jerky company

(Newser) - They were almost taken for fools. But one almost-unlucky group of Kickstarter users managed to uncover a $120,309 scam on the site, helping to kill the campaign less than an hour before it was set to end—and their money was whisked out of their bank accounts. CNNMoney reports...

Scammers Horn In on Newtown Donations

Website set up in victim's name

(Newser) - Just as they did after 9/11, Katrina, and the Aurora shooting, scammers are taking advantage of people's generosity in the wake of the Newtown massacre. A website in the name of Noah Pozner, a 6-year-old killed in the attacks, sought donations and cards for his family; it also contained...

Lawyers Have Lost $70M to ... Email Scammers

One will be prosecuted this fall

(Newser) - Even lawyers can be taken in by email scams—and one US Postal Inspector estimates law firms have lost at least $70 million to such scams since 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Scammers email lawyers—known for their eagerness to gain new clients, often via the Internet—with a...

Scary New Text Scam: Pay or Die

Don't panic, delete texts, urge Aussie cops

(Newser) - Get ready for a massive new wrinkle in texting scams: death threats. Australian authorities are hunting for crooks who are ordering victims via text to "pay up or die." The texts talk of a contract to kill the textee, who can undo the hit by paying $5,000...

Well Sure, Strangers, You Can Borrow My BMW

Hooters patron hasn't seen it since

(Newser) - An apparently absurdly kindhearted Virginia man got taken for a ride recently, when he lent out his BMW to people purporting to be travelers with a hard-luck story. The man was at a Hooters in Fairfax City, when a couple came in saying their car had broken down on the...

Scam Convinces Thousands Obama Is Paying Their Bills

Tricksters launch door-to-door campaign

(Newser) - Don't let the heat get to your brain: Thousands from New Jersey to North Carolina to Indiana have been taken in by a scam suggesting the federal government is oh-so-graciously willing to cover your out-of-control utility bill. In addition to electronically communicating with victims, scammers are sending associates door...

Nigerian Scams Purposely Sound Unbelievable
Nigerian Scams Purposely Sound Unbelievable
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 24, 2012 10:55 AM CDT

Nigerian Scams Purposely Sound Unbelievable

Scammers want to rein in only the very gullible: study

(Newser) - "Nigerian scams" are so well-known that we call them, well, Nigerian scams. So why don't the scammers update their tactics a bit, rather than coming right out and admitting they're from Nigeria right there in the body of the email? The answer, according to a Microsoft researcher...

Toll Booth Worker Skims $7,500: Cops

Kicker: It was during his probationary period

(Newser) - Toll booth workers can make a decent living, but maybe not this decent. A temporary bridge and tunnel officer at a Staten Island bridge allegedly skimmed $7,500 from tolls paid by drivers, reports the Staten Island Advance . Between January and March, Richard Betancourt, 22, took the $13 toll from...

Feds: AT&T Put Fraud on Government Tab

Service for the deaf was abused by Nigerian scammers

(Newser) - The Justice Department has accused AT&T of bilking the government out of more than $16 million by purposely allowing Nigerian fraudsters to abuse a service intended to help deaf Americans. AT&T says it's just following FCC rules requiring it to offer a free IP Relay service, which...

Woman Scams Nigerian Scammers

 Woman Scams 
 Nigerian 
 Scammers 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 26, 2012 7:00 AM CST

Woman Scams Nigerian Scammers

Aussie was supposed to keep 8% of scam, kept 100%

(Newser) - Most of us just want to throttle the scam artists that line our spam boxes with get-rich-quick schemes and pleas for help with million-dollar bank transfers, but Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey went one better: She scammed the cons who were using her in their scam, reports the Courier-Mail . Seems the 23-year-old...

Google, Yahoo, 13 Others Declare War on Phishing

New set of standards could make email more trustworthy

(Newser) - A new anti-phishing effort, backed by the big email service providers as well as banks, PayPal, social networks, and other companies, could dramatically reduce the number of scam emails you get in your inbox. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are backing the new plan; 15 companies in total have come...

How to Get 5-Star Reviews on Amazon? Buy Them

Watch out: Such scams might be on the rise

(Newser) - Anne Marie Logan was shocked when she received the new leather case she'd ordered for her Kindle Fire. Packaged with it was a letter urging her to write a review for the product—and promising her a refund if she did. "I was like, 'Is this for...

Fake Death Scam Surfaces in Cruise Ship Case

Ship sinks, can rats be far behind?

(Newser) - The first scam has emerged in an apparent bid for compensation from the operators of crippled cruise liner Costa Concordia. A woman and her boyfriend were arrested in Hungary after falsely reporting two people missing on the ship, according to officials. The scheme was spotted by a New York lawyer...

Woman Fakes Own Kid's Death for Vacation Time

But Joan Barnett is done in by a shoddy fake death certificate

(Newser) - Today's lesson in stupid schemes: If you're going to scam your boss for vacation time with your kid's fake death certificate, at least make sure the fonts match. It seems one Joan Barnett, a parent coordinator at a Manhattan school who, it's worth noting, was eligible...

Gift Card Scam Warning Issued
 Gift Card Scam Warning Issued 
Dec 19, 2011 3:50 AM CST

Gift Card Scam Warning Issued

Fraudsters are recording activation codes, Schumer warns

(Newser) - People buying gift cards for friends and family this Christmas should make sure that the concealing measures haven't been removed, Chuck Schumer warns. The senator from New York says fraudsters have been visiting stores where the cards are on the shelves and recording access codes in order to drain...

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