Fraud and Scam News

Photo by: ninjapoodles

FBI is sounding fresh alerts to warn citizens of the presence of a new wave of phishing scams online. Fraudsters posing as employees of the IRS or organizations like the well-respected TaxPayer Advocate Service (a part of the IRS) and armed with email addresses like service@irs.gov and tax-refund@irs.gov, maybe on the prowl, it warns.

In a very polished attempt, fraudsters are using a website closely resembling the official IRS website to entice readers of their mails to part with personal information like their Name, Address, Phone number, Bank Account number, Credit Card number, Card Expiry date, ATM Pin number, Social Security number, Passport number, and your mother’s maiden name. The last bit of detail is sought as it is typically the answer to an online security question that otherwise restricts access to your funds.

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Photo by: Bill in Ash Vegas

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been awarded an order in favor of seizure of all assets of Gregory McKnight and Legisi Holdings LLC, his investment company. McKnight was under investigation for sometime by the commission for misusing $72 Million of investor money.

McKnight, it alleged, invited investments online through his website legisi.com. Investors were promised as much as 15% monthly in return for their investments. They were told the funds would be invested in foreign exchange, real estate, futures, and stock.

It is now alleged that he invested only $33 Million of the investor money. $27.5 Million of the rest is now assumed to have been used to payback returns to early investors in the manner of ponzi scams. He is also said to have misappropriated $2.2 Million to cover personal expenses and to doling out payments to near-and-dear relatives.

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Photo by: preciouskhyatt

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has issued orders against an online ticket seller, Ben C. Huettl of Woodbury, Minnesota who traded in Green Bay Packers match tickets through his website LambeauTickets.com. The department has now placed several restrictions on his selling tickets online. The order came after the department received several scam complaints about the seller. He was accused of scamming eight buyers by not delivering tickets even after collecting payments in advance from them.

Buyers complained they did not get any tickets even after paying for them months in advance. Those who enquired were told their tickets had been cancelled as their credit cards had been marked for fraud, which actually was not true.

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