October 3, 2024 at 12:36PM Two Chinese nationals, Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue, along with co-conspirators Wen Jin Gao and Dian Luo, were sentenced to prison for scamming Apple out of over $2.5 million by exchanging more than 6,000 counterfeit iPhones for authentic ones. They exploited Apple’s replacement policy, used fake identification cards and driver’s … Read more
September 5, 2024 at 12:50PM Musician Michael Smith faces charges for a streaming fraud scheme, accused of using AI-generated songs streamed by thousands of bots to collect over $10 million in royalty payments from Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and YouTube Music. He employed over 1,000 bot accounts and manipulated streaming data to avoid detection. The scheme … Read more
August 13, 2024 at 07:35AM Luxembourg’s Orion SA may face a $60 million loss due to a criminal wire fraud scheme involving fraudulent outbound wire transfers. The company suspects a business email compromise (BEC) scam. Despite the potential loss, Orion remains confident after recently boosting its 2024 sales and profit estimates. The company is working … Read more
August 1, 2024 at 05:15PM The mastermind behind a tech support fraud scheme has been sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding over 6,500 victims and amassing a total of $6 million. Based on the meeting notes, it seems that the leader of a tech support fraud scheme has been sentenced to seven years … Read more
July 29, 2024 at 02:05PM Three individuals involved in a large-scale software pirating operation, selling unauthorized Avaya business telephone system software licenses worth over $88,000,000, were sentenced to prison. The individuals, Raymond Bradley “Brad” Pearce, Dusti O. Pearce, and Jason M. Hines, pleaded guilty and were ordered to forfeit between $2 to $4 million as … Read more
June 17, 2024 at 10:14AM Nigerian national Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, faces up to 27 years in federal prison after being convicted in the US for operating a business email compromise (BEC) scheme. He and his co-conspirators caused or intended to cause losses of more than $1.5 million to their victims. Co-defendant Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, … Read more
May 29, 2024 at 08:24AM The U.S. Department of Justice sentenced Malachi Mullings to 10 years for laundering $4.5 million through BEC and romance scams. He opened fake bank accounts and used the proceeds for luxury items. Meanwhile, Russian citizen Evgeniy Doroshenko has been indicted for selling access to corporate networks on cybercrime forums. Both … Read more
March 8, 2024 at 02:06AM Echefu, a Nigerian man involved in a business email compromise scheme, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the US. Alongside his co-conspirators from South Africa, he gained unauthorized access to email accounts to orchestrate wire fraud and money laundering. Echefu faces up to 20 years in prison and must … Read more
February 8, 2024 at 09:08AM Cybersecurity researcher and associate charged in California for allegedly defrauding a tech company (most likely Apple) of $2.5 million. They gained access to Apple’s systems via a third-party contractor, ordering gift cards and hardware and selling them to third parties. An unsealed court indictment points to the defendants’ involvement. The … Read more
December 18, 2023 at 07:52AM Four U.S. nationals have been charged with a cryptocurrency investment scam, earning over $80 million through various illicit activities. The scheme involved pig butchering scams and shell companies, resulting in significant financial losses for victims. This reflects a concerning trend of increasing cryptocurrency investment scams, as reported by the FBI. … Read more