A man posing as an airline employee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Gilbert Myers Jr., 38, of Atlanta, admitted his role in an elaborate scam to defraud airlines. His guilty plea was part of an agreement with […]
Month: January 2015
OTA owner jailed for theft and money laundering
The owner of an online travel agency based on the Isle of Man was jailed last week after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering. Craig Jay of Cambridge Terrace, Douglas, was sentenced on Friday (January 23) alongside his accomplice Brian Penrose of Chignal Smealey, Chelmsford, Essex. Link to article
Fake Travel Agency
This is one of the most common travel scams, especially when hot destinations are on everybody’s mind. Tricksters create great websites for “new” travel agencies offering amazing deals. Wouldn’t you like to brag to your friends that you went to the Mayan Riviera for $350? Link to article
Fraud at United and American Airlines
Ten thousand American Airlines, and three dozen United Airlines, accounts were targets of fraud, with criminals reusing credentials to access customer loyalty reward points and use them to book or upgrade flights late last month, according to recent reports. The loyalty program accounts breach, American’s AAdvantage and United’s MileagePlus, is reminiscent of a similar attack […]
Man pleads guilty in airline-booking scam
A Georgia man who posed as an airline employee to make cut-rate reservations, then resold the tickets for thousands of dollars, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Gilbert Myers Jr., 38, of Atlanta, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. […]
8 ways your details can be hijacked
Unaware of credit card fraud until the statement arrives or the bank rings? Here are eight ways tech-savvy criminals can get your details from shops, ATMs and other systems. Card issuers like Visa and MasterCard often know if merchants have suffered a breach before even the banks or the merchant itself, but they rarely reveal […]
Ex-worker jailed for £29k fraud on phones
A former call centre worker who cost Vodafone nearly £29,000 in new phones and iPads has been jailed for a year. Belfast Crown Court Judge Gordon Kerr QC told 25-year-old David Parry he was a repeat offender, whose motivation in defrauding his employers was solely for profit and as a result was regarded as a […]
Most retail fraud now committed online
Retailers are suffering from increased levels of fraud, most of which is now committed online, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said. This year’s BRC Retail Crime Survey, published today, found retailers warned they expected fraud “to pose the single most significant threat to their businesses over the next two years.” Levels of fraud increased […]
Fraudsters used credit cards from darkweb-£600k scam
A gang which conned companies out of more than £600,000 worth of goods using stolen credit card details from the ‘dark web’ has been convicted. Manchester Crown Court heard the Rochdale-based fraudsters targeted 57 wholesale companies from June 2011 to November 2012 using compromised credit cards from illegal online forums. They ordered a vast array […]
Moonpig exposes details of 3m customers
Online greeting card service Moonpig has suspended its mobile apps following claims that a security flaw allowed access to any of its three million customer accounts. Mobile app developer Paul Price discovered the apparent bug while examining the security settings of the code Moonpig uses in its Android and iOS applications. He claimed that when […]
Behind Giant Credit Card Hack
Vladimir Drinkman says he met Dmitriy Smilianets online playing Counter-Strike, a shooter game in which cyber-combatants assume the roles of either terrorists or counter-terrorists: bad guys or good guys. More than a decade later, the two young Russians are both behind bars — Drinkman in the Netherlands, Smilianets in New Jersey — charged with being […]
USB charger that can steal bank details
For just £6, a hacker can create a covert device that tracks everything you type on a keyboard including usernames, credit card details and banking passwords. The device, called KeySweeper, was built by a Poland-based security researcher and works with a range of wireless keyboards. Once connected, the small USB wall charger remotely decrypts, logs […]
UK fraud cases soar
British courts have seen a 25% increase in the number of fraud cases being heard, according to Big Four firm KPMG’s latest fraud barometer Research from the firm shows that while the total value of fraud in the UK has dropped 14% – from £834m to £717m – the total number of cases has increased, […]
10 Most Common Hotel Guests Scams
Hotels, restaurants and resorts are notoriously desirable targets for thieves and con artists, mainly because of the large sums of cash flowing through these businesses. And, indeed, statistics do show that theft and fraud take a serious financial toll on the bottom lines of most hospitality entities. According to industry statistics, as much as 5% […]
United and American Airlines account fraud
More than 20 travel-related websites have experienced data breaches in the past two months, according to a security expert who tracks the trade in stolen data. Data from those websites is being sold on underground forums by cybercriminals, said Alex Holden, CTO of Hold Security, a company that specializes in monitoring the illegal trade and […]
Credit Card Fraud isn’t the same as Identity Theft
Just as important as taking down the decorations, throwing out all the debris from opened gifts and getting the house back in order after the holiday activities, is that of scrutinizing your credit card statements. Why? To make sure that all the purchases on there were made by you and only you. The holiday season […]
Hackers release 13,000 passwords and credit cards
A gang of internet hackers claiming an affiliation with shadowy anarchist group Anonymous is claiming it has leaked the details of more than 13,000 users of Playstation, Xbox and online stores including Amazon. The hackers posted a document online containing username and password combinations. They also added credit card numbers as well as expiry dates. […]
Security – part 2
Why Security Matters The best defences against fraud are useless if they are let down by your security processes. Physical Security Whilst you do not wish to make your work premises a forbidding, prison-like, fortress, it is important to have an appropriate level of security that protects your business from unwanted and potentially harmful attention. […]
Security – part 1
Why Security Matters The best defences against fraud are useless if they are let down by your security processes. Physical Security Whilst you do not wish to make your work premises a forbidding, prison-like, fortress, it is important to have an appropriate level of security that protects your business from unwanted and potentially harmful attention. […]
Reporting Fraud
Why You Should Report Fraud Reporting fraud and economic crime benefits you, benefits your industry, and benefits society by: · Reducing fraud and corruption · Protecting the public from future criminal conduct · Reducing the cost to society caused by fraud and corruption · Reducing the risk of a further attack on your business from […]