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Posts Tagged ‘fraud’

Wisconsin Woman Accused of Selling Fake Facebook Stock

By Dawn in Crime, fraud, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, scam, Theft Investigations at February 3rd, 2012 | No comments

A Wisconsin woman has been charged with theft over accusations she tried to profit from Facebook’s much-anticipated plans to go public by selling fake stock in the social media giant.

Facebook announced on Wednesday its plans for the biggest-ever Internet IPO.

In a criminal complaint on Thursday, prosecutors said Marianne Oleson told acquaintances she obtained $1 million in stock because her daughter was an acquaintance of Facebook’s founder and persuaded several people to buy fictitious Facebook stock over a four-month period.

The Oshkosh woman was charged with 31 counts of theft, forgery and making misleading statements.

One of Oleson’s victims was a contractor who did work at her house in September. Oleson paid the contractor for the work with $13,980 worth of fake Facebook stock, the complaint alleged.

The contractor, who also paid $10,000 in cash to the woman for additional stock, grew suspicious when he found she lied about her name and various oddities on documents referring to the transaction. Read the full article »

Tags: criminal investigation, fact-finding, fraud, scam, theft

How to Steal an Identity in Seven Easy Steps

By Dawn in Crime, Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, MSI Detective Services, Technology, Theft Investigations at January 12th, 2012 | No comments

People who have been the victim of identify theft know it can take months or even years to clean up the mess. It is one of the most stressful experiences one can have. The story I am about to share is very real. A close friend of mine was a victim of such a crime and the fact that someone was able to reset that person’s email password was all they needed to gain their personal information. Ironically, this person didn’t use simple passwords, yet it was still done. Still, make your passwords and security questions unique and don’t use the same information for multiple accounts. In fact, make the answers to your questions incorrect – just random information that isn’t even true. You may have to write down this information since all of us have so many accounts – making it impossible to remember everything. But, this minor inconvenience sure beats the major nightmare you will live if your identity is even stolen.

Herbert Thompson seems like just another smart academic software developer who loves formulas and geeking out. But he’s also stolen the identities of several casual acquaintances. In fact, in one case he gained access to a bank account in seven shockingly simple steps. He didn’t use any programming tricks, just a little sleuth work.

As part of an experiment and with the permission of some people he barely knew, Thompson stole identities to show the public how easy it is to get access to personal data and banking information. He proved it only requires some simple surfing for freely available personal data. What the following steps show is how vulnerable we all are to security breach. Read the full article »

Tags: Electronic Theft, fraud, identity theft, theft

New Virus Raids Your Bank Account – but You Won’t Notice

By Dawn in Debugging - Electronic Countermeasures, Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, Hacking, MSI Detective Services, scam, Technology at January 6th, 2012 | No comments

Experts have told us that the best way to protect ourselves from an online financial scam is to diligently check our bank accounts. Unfortunately, this no longer provides any guarantees, because what you may be seeing on your screen may be an illusion.

Israeli-based Security firm Trusteer has found an elaborate new computer virus that not only helps fraudsters steal money from bank accounts — it also covers its tracks.

Think of a crime plot involving a spy who plans to break into a high-security building and begins by swapping out security camera video so guards don’t notice anything is amiss. This is known as a surveillance camera hack and the technique has been used in dozens of movies.

A new version of the widely prevalent SpyEye Trojan horse works much the same way, only it swaps out banking Web pages rather than video, preventing account holders from noticing that their money is gone.

The Trojan horse utilizes a powerful two-step process to commit the electronic crime. First, the virus lies in wait until a customer with an infected computer visits an online banking site, steals their login credentials and tricks the victim into divulging additional personal information such as debit card information. Then, after the stolen card number is used for a fraudulent purchase, the virus intercepts any further visits to the victim’s banking site and scrubs transaction records clean of any fraud. That prevents — or at least delays — consumers from discovering fraud and reporting it to the bank, buying the fraudster critical extra time to complete the crime. Read the full article »

Tags: bank account hacking, debugging, electronic countermeasures, Electronic Theft, fraud, hacking, online security

GSM Phones Vulnerable to Hijack Scams – Researcher Says

By Dawn in Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, Hacking, MSI Detective Services, Security, taps, Technology at December 28th, 2011 | No comments

Mobile security is a hot issue as smartphone sales have outpaced PC sales. Smartphone malware is popping up at an unprecedented rate as people put more and more valuable information on their devices, using them to hold corporate secrets, conduct banking and function as digital wallets.

Hackers have taken notice and continue to find ways to breach the security of these devices.

Karsten Nohl, head of Berlin-based Security Research Labs, will be speaking at the Berlin hacking convention this week about the security vulnerabilities of GSM phones.

Nohl discovered flaws in a widely used wireless technology that could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones and instruct them to send text messages or make calls. Nohl is a well-regarded expert on mobile security who identified a bug last year in GSM technology that makes calls vulnerable to tapping. He says he is calling attention to these flaws to pressure the industry into beefing up the security of their products.

They could use the vulnerability in the GSM technology — which is used by most telecom operators globally and by billions of people — to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams.

Security experts have previously identified a small number of viruses designed to infect smartphones, allowing hackers to take control of the devices and force them to make calls or send text messages. But Nohl said he has discovered a way to leverage previously disclosed vulnerabilities in GSM technology that could potentially threaten hundreds of thousands of phones.

GSM became the dominant mobile technology globally in the late 1990s. Although new and faster mobile networks have been rolled out across the world, operators have stuck to their GSM networks to support older phones and to offer service when new networks fail. Read the full article »

Tags: cell phone hacking, computer hacking, electronic countermeasures, fraud, hacking, landline hacking, online security, phone tap, Security

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Posts Tagged ‘fraud’

Wisconsin Woman Accused of Selling Fake Facebook Stock

How to Steal an Identity in Seven Easy Steps

New Virus Raids Your Bank Account – but You Won’t Notice

GSM Phones Vulnerable to Hijack Scams – Researcher Says