Six Months of Silence
The season of professional football is upon us. Practice games are finished, team roosters are finalized, news announcements are made. For the San Francisco 49er’s, the news that Jimmy Garoppolo was no longer head quarterback should have been the big drama of the year....
Dear Student
“Dear Student, your student loan service for Federal Student Aid (FSA), is writing to make you aware of an incident that may affect the security of some of your information. While we are not aware of any actual or attempted misuse of your information…”...
Impersonating What Should Be Sacred
No parent should have to bury their child. And no parent should have to worry that their deceased child’s identity has been stolen. It should be a place any fraudster would not go. But, unfortunately, that is the case for the two pairs of...
Selling Cocaine or Committing Fraud, It’s Still Illegal
Finding inspiration for lyric is extremely important for any songwriter. But for Fontrell Antonio Baines, also known as Nuke Bizzle, he should have chosen another muse than stealing from the COVID-19 Unemployment fund. Released in a YouTube music video, Baines claimed he fraudulently took...
You Can Run, But You Don’t Have To Hide
After six years on the run, a Mexican man who lived in Nashville when he allegedly defrauded the U.S. government has been captured by authorities.
In 2015, Claudio Juarez and 46 others were charged with conspiracy to file false income tax returns against the United...
“If They Approve it, Do You Think it’s Illegal?”
Fraudsters have good questions as did Ian Hosang, May 8, 2020, after he was arrested and arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court for grand larceny, identity theft and scheming to defraud the IRS, by establishing fake non-profits with legitimate-sounding names, like “American Cancer Society for...
SPECIAL ALERT: New Study Released on Pandemic-Related Identity Fraud
According to the Pandemic-Related Identity Fraud Crime Victim Impacts Report, the past two years have brought about an unprecedented surge of government benefits-related identity fraud. The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity crime, and...
False Representation
Diomedes Ramirez Rodriguez, a Dominican National, is facing possible deportation after being convicted of several charges in federal court. He falsely represented his citizenship and social security number, misused a passport, and committed health care fraud. (One illegal activity just wasn’t enough I suppose)....
Having Fun with Others’ Funds
Sean Okrzesik, 34, of Syracuse, N.Y., was sentenced to 25 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated identity theft and theft of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. SSI is funded by general tax revenue and helps the elderly and disabled,...
[Fraud Trends Series] Trend #6: Identity Theft, DMV Fraud, and Document Fraud
The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book reveals that 29.4 percent of complaints filed with the online database in 2020 were related to identity theft. (That’s more than any other type of fraud reported.) Amongst the many types of identity theft fraud...