Page 7 - Frauds

Vietnam billionaire sentenced to death in country's biggest fraud case

Truong My Lan faces charges ranging from bribery, abuse of power, appropriation and violations of banking law

India ranks number 10 in cybercrime, Russia tops list followed by Ukraine

India ranked number 10 in cybercrime, with frauds involving people to make advance fee payment being the most common type, according to a new research that surveyed cybercrime experts around the world. An international team of researchers has compiled the 'World Cybercrime Index' that ranks roughly 100 countries and identifies key hotspots according to various categories of cybercrime, including ransomware, credit card theft and scams. Russia topped the list, and was followed by Ukraine, China, the US, Nigeria and Romania. North Korea was at the seventh position, while the UK and Brazil were at the eighth and ninth positions, respectively, according to the research published in the journal PLoS ONE. Through the survey, the researchers asked the experts to consider major types of crime in the virtual world and nominate countries that they thought contributed significantly to each of them. The major categories that the researchers identified were - technical products and services suc

A 43-year-old woman loses Rs 86000 while trying to book IPL match tickets

A Bengaluru woman got scammed when she tried to book an online IPL match ticket. She lost Rs 86000 in the process and registered her complaint to the police

Axis Bank credit card users impacted by fraudulent overseas transactions

Multiple customers having Axis Bank credit cards have been impacted by fraudulent overseas transactions, a senior official from the third largest private sector lender said on Thursday. Sanjeev Moghe, head of cards and payments at the city-based lender, said starting Tuesday evening, customers witnessed unauthorised transactions where they received transaction alerts on certain low-value purchases being carried out at some e-commerce sites. There has been "no data breach" at the bank's end, Moghe said, asserting that the scale of such transactions is very limited and customers' data is safe and secure. Amid growing social media chatter about such unauthorised transactions going through, Moghe said the bank's internal mechanisms stopped some transactions but added that many customers have been impacted. The bank witnessed spends of about Rs 500 crore per day by its credit card customers, Moghe said, adding that when compared with it, the extent of such transactions has been "very ..

BFSI, e-com, staffing sectors most vulnerable to employment fraud: Study

The study categorised cases into green, amber, and red classification, where green denoted a smooth hiring path with all candidate details matching verified documents

Bhushan Steel bank 'fraud' case: ED arrests 5 including ex-executives

The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has arrested five persons in connection with an alleged Rs 56,000 crore bank loan fraud linked money laundering case against erstwhile Bhushan Steel Ltd. Former vice president (banking) of the company Pankaj Tewari, former VP (accounts) Pankaj Agarwal, ex-chief financial officer Nittin Johri, Ajay Mittal, the brother-in-law of former promoter Neeraj Singal, and Ajay Mittal's wife and sister of Neeraj Singal, Archana Mittal were taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday, it said. They were sent to three days ED custody by a court after they were produced over two days, the agency said. After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process, Bhushan Steel was taken over by Tata Steel Ltd in 2018. According to the ED, Bhushan Steel Limited's former managing director Neeraj Singal and his associates formed several shell companies and the promoters and entities linked to BSL "rotated funds from one

Govt warns users against dialling '*401#' followed by unknown mobile number

The Department of Telecom on Thursday issued an advisory to users warning against malicious calls that ask them to dial '*401#' followed by an unknown mobile number. In case a user dials '*401#' followed by an unknown number, then it leads to activation of unconditional call forwarding received on the mobile of the user to the unknown mobile number. "The Department has advised citizens to beware of receiving malicious incoming calls asking them to dial *401# followed by some unknown mobile number. "This activates unconditional call forwarding received on the mobile of citizens to the unknown mobile number. This allows fraudsters to receive all incoming calls and can be used for fraud," the statement said. Explaining the modus operandi of the scam, the DoT said a fraudster will call a telecom subscriber and pretend to be a customer service representative or technical support staff from their telecom service provider. The fraudster then states that either there is a problem with the

Indian-origin realty developer booked for perpetuating $93 mn fraud scheme

An Indian-origin real estate developer has been charged by federal authorities in the US with perpetuating a USD 93 million fraud scheme. Rishi Kapoor, a Miami-based developer, faces charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. The SEC announced that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief concerning the alleged USD 93 million real estate investment fraud perpetrated by Kapoor. The SEC also charged real estate company Location Ventures, its affiliate Urbin and 20 other related entities in connection with the fraud scheme, a statement said. According to the SEC's complaint, from approximately January 2018, until at least March 2023, Kapoor and certain of the defendant entities solicited investors by, among other things, making several material misrepresentations and omissions regarding Kapoor, Location Ventures, Urbin, and their real estate developments. The false statements allegedly included misrepresenting Kapoor's compensation; his cash ...

Digital money heist: What's behind surge in online payment fraud?

More than 47 per cent of all cybercrime is linked to UPI payments, making it the most common form of financial fraud, says a report by FCRF

Fraudsters swiped millions of dollars by faking product refunds: Amazon

The lawsuit lists more than a dozen transactions from June 2022 to May 2023 as leading to fraudulent refunds. Items purchased include gaming consoles, smartphones, laptops

Finance Ministry holds a review meeting on large value fraud cases

During the review meeting, it was emphasised that all measures should be taken to further improve coordination between the CBI and banks for expeditious investigation

British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah detained in Denmark before trial

Shah is due to face trial in Denmark early next year on charges related to so-called "cum-ex" trading schemes in which the Danish state says it lost more than 12.7 billion crowns ($1.84 billion)

Trafigura checked traders didn't collude in Gupta fraud case: Report

Trafigura filed a lawsuit against Gupta in February, alleging seven companies that it said were controlled by him carried out a systematic fraud involving nickel cargoes

CBI files FIR, searches 13 locations in Uco Bank fund transfer case

The CBI has registered an FIR in connection with Rs 820 crore worth of suspicious IMPS transactions in UCO Bank in November this year and searched 13 locations in multiple cities, officials said on Tuesday. The search operation, which continued till late night Monday, also covered Kolkata and Mangalore, they said. The CBI action came following the FIR that was registered on a complaint from UCO Bank against two support engineers working with the bank and other unknown persons. It alleged suspicious Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions amounting to approximately Rs. 820 crore, the agency spokesperson said in a statement. During the searches, electronic evidence, including mobile phones, laptops, computer systems, email archives and debit/credit cards, were recovered, he said. "It was alleged that between 10th November 2023 and 13th November 2023, IMPS inward transactions originating from 14000 account holders across seven private banks were directed to 41000 account holders

EU antitrust regulators accuse five car battery makers of running cartel

The five manufacturers are Banner, Clarios, Exide, Elettra and Rombat. They make 12-volt lead batteries which are currently used to start most combustion engine cars

US seeks over $4 billion from crypto exchange Binance to end criminal case

The US Justice Department has been investigating Binance for allegedly aiding in the evasion of US sanctions against Iran and Russia

Amway generated proceeds of crime of over Rs 4k cr via MLM scheme: ED

Amway India, which runs a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, generated proceeds of crime worth more than Rs 4,000 crore and a substantial part of it was siphoned off to overseas bank accounts, the Enforcement Directorate alleged on Monday. The federal agency said this after filing a charge-sheet against Amway India Enterprise Pvt Ltd before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Hyderabad. The court took cognisance of the prosecution's complaint on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement. The criminal case of money laundering registered by the ED stems from multiple FIRs filed by the Telangana Police against Amway and its directors. It is alleged that they were promoting an "illegal money circulation scheme under the guise of sale of goods" and "cheating the general public by promising them very high commissions/incentives through simple enrolment of new members and by claiming that these commissions/incentives would continue in ...

Cognitive tools for thwarting scams

In an era where we constantly fear being swindled, a book that delves into the psychology of deception and offers guidance on steering clear of fraud becomes essential reading

FTX founder Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president hit a new bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud in a scheme that cheated customers and investors of at least $10 billion. After the monthlong trial, jurors rejected Bankman-Fried's claim during four days on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court that he never committed fraud or meant to cheat customers before FTX, once the world's second-largest crypto exchange, collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago. His crimes caught up to him. His crimes have been exposed, Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury of the onetime billionaire just before they were read the law by Judge Lewis A Kaplan and began deliberations. Sassoon said Bankman-Fried turned his customers' accounts into his personal piggy bank as up to $14 billion disappeared. She urge

Self-regulation does not work well in preventing frauds, says Sebi WTM

Amarjeet Singh says 16 working groups looking to simplify regulations