I got this e mail recently and the fact of the matter is it's a diploma mill and the mill industry is now estimated to be about 8 billion dollars per year. A diploma mill usually grants a degree for life experience and little real academic work. These schools are usually unaccredited and most people know they are a sham and use them for the purpose stated in the e-mail, but some people really don't know. Often the sales person from the diploma mill will make their particular program sound exclusive, but if you act now they just may be able to squeeze you into this special program.
Hiring managers should really check a candidates academic credentials thoroughly because these diploma mills now offer degrees, transcripts and various types of verification services to help dupe a prospective employer. Diploma mill operators are getting more and more sophisticated and there are numerous cases on record where someone with a legit degree was not hired or promoted in favor of someone with a diploma mill degree.
As a rule a creditable school will grant some academic credit for experience towards a degree, but will not grant the whole degree or the majority of the degree based on life experience. Many of these diploma mills operate overseas in countries like Liberia, Nigeria and in the Bahamas. Any school based overseas should receive extra scrutiny from a perspective student.
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
You Kid Can Be A Victim of ID Theft
Believe it or not kids are the perfect target for ID theft if a minors social security number is compromised it can be years before it's even suspected. This particular case happened in Taiwan but in the US ID thieves go after kids personal information because there are no prior credit or bank accounts histories; for scam artists and cons this represents the ideal situation. Kids are also more likely to compromise information both on line or over the telephone and are especially vulnerable to social engineering attacks. A parent or guardian should always monitor their kids on line activities. Parents should both educate themselves and their kids about on line safety. They should also monitor what mail arrives addressed to their child. You'll be surprised at how many credit card offers and IRS notices are addressed to kids everyday across the country.
Newborn becomes victim of identity theft
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-24 16:40
A baby boy in Taiwan became blacklisted by police just 40 days after he was born.
Based on police records, he was guilty of overdrawn credit card accounts for the past three years. Parents of the newborn found out the shocker when they tried to open a bank account for their son on Tuesday.
After investigations, police now suspect it was a man, surnamed Wang, who stole the newborn's identification card number and used his identity to carry out the transactions. The authorities are considering getting a new ID card number for the boy.
Newborn becomes victim of identity theft
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-24 16:40
A baby boy in Taiwan became blacklisted by police just 40 days after he was born.
Based on police records, he was guilty of overdrawn credit card accounts for the past three years. Parents of the newborn found out the shocker when they tried to open a bank account for their son on Tuesday.
After investigations, police now suspect it was a man, surnamed Wang, who stole the newborn's identification card number and used his identity to carry out the transactions. The authorities are considering getting a new ID card number for the boy.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Equity Skimming
Equity skimming, also known as foreclosure rescue is a real estate rip off where "investors" approach homeowners in foreclosure with a "rescue plan" to help them keep their house. These are slick talking con artists who plan on taking over the house from the get go by renting the house back to the home owner and then jacking up the rent so high that the family is forced to move out. The sad thing is that they prey on people with sub-prime mortgages. As a whole these home owners are being hit the hardest with the recent upswing in house foreclosures. These people are often the easiest targets by being poor and often uneducated. Often the con- artist will pool money from his or her “investors” for this operation.
Needless to say there may be some pay back to the investors, but you are best to believe that the person making the money is the one who cooked up this entire scheme. Fortunately many states are addressing this issue and some of these fraudsters are finding their way to jail for misrepresentation. As I’ve often said have your lawyer review ANY contract before you sign that’s good advice no matter if you’re rich or poor.
By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
At the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the phone calls come nearly every day from yet another financially desperate homeowner who's become the victim of a "foreclosure rescue" scam.
"This has become the No. 1 problem in terms of calls we're getting and cases we're filing," says Daniel Lindsey, supervising attorney for the foundation's Home Ownership Preservation Project.
And it's clearly a nationwide problem that's likely to get worse. The Better Business Bureau has received complaints from every state and has issued an alert to warn consumers to be cautious about foreclosure-rescue companies.
TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERS: How to protect yourself from "foreclosure rescue" scams
COMMENTS: Do you know anyone whose home has gone into foreclosure? Share your story.
Alarmed that con artists are taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners, many of whom are buckling under predatory loans, state regulators are cracking down. So far this year, six states have imposed rules against these companies, and six more states have proposed legislation. (Graphic, next page.)
More than 2.2 million Americans are in default on their mortgages. And that figure is expected to grow sharply through next year as 2 million more homeowners with adjustable-rate loans face higher payments. In Ohio, whose foreclosure rate is second-worst in the nation, after Michigan, Attorney General Marc Dann has received hundreds of complaints from all over the state.
"The sad part about this particular offense," Dann says, "is that (the homeowners) lose everything. You lose the little bit of money they had squirreled away, you lose your house and you lose your hope. How do you quantify that?"
In a sweep in August, Dann filed complaints against six companies, including American Housing Authority and Foreclosure Assistance Solutions, and he says he expects to bring a half-dozen more cases in the next few weeks. Phone numbers for the companies were not available.
Regulators and law enforcement in many states are targeting the two most common forms of foreclosure rescue scams: "equity skimming" and bogus or fruitless consulting services.
The first scam works like this: A company offers to take legal ownership of the home temporarily. The homeowners pay "rent" to the company, which promises to return legal ownership to them once they regain their financial footing.
But all too often, con artists borrow as much as they can against the equity in the house — and collect the rent from the original homeowners but never make any mortgage payments. In the end, the property still goes into foreclosure, and any equity the homeowner had built up is gone. Their financial ruin is complete.
The second-most-common foreclosure-rescue pitch goes like this: A company offers to renegotiate the homeowners' mortgage with the lender or help refinance the property. In exchange, they charge an up-front fee, typically $800 to $1,200.
Frequently, though, the company never contacts the lender, or knows the borrower can't qualify for another loan. What little extra cash the homeowner could have used to pay the mortgage or move to an apartment has been wiped out by worthless "services."
There are, of course, hundreds of reputable groups that provide legitimate services for homeowners in trouble. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has certified 2,300 counseling agencies to help homeowners nationwide (www.hud.gov).
HUD and the mortgage industry also support the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which operates a toll-free counseling hotline, 24 hours a day (888-995-HOPE). Last month, it fielded 22,000 calls from homeowners in financial distress.
When scary letters start piling up
A family that's more than two months behind on a mortgage will often come home to a mailbox stuffed with brightly colored envelopes and postcards from companies promising to help them save their homes.
One such postcard that Steve and Dawn Reyes received after Steve lost his job as a carpenter was from Mortgage Assistance Solutions, a Florida-based company that's known by its customers as Fresh Start.
"YOU WILL LOSE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DON'T CALL US NOW!!!" the postcard said.
When Dawn called, the company promised to refund its $1,200 upfront fee if it couldn't help them. A month after they signed up, the Reyeses received a summons stating that their house was scheduled for auction on Dec. 12 of last year.
"I called the guy at Fresh Start, and I'm frantic," recalls Dawn, 27, a stay-at-home mom and first-time homeowner in Machesney Park, Ill. "I said, 'Look, I got this summons to go to court; I thought you were talking to the bank.' "
The reply, she says, was: "Yeah, we're talking with them. I'll call them and put a stop to them. We get a lot of calls like this. It's just a scare tactic; nothing's going to happen."
The Reyeses had signed a document in November of 2006 giving Mortgage Assistance Solutions permission to negotiate with the family's lender. But the Illinois Attorney General's office, which filed a lawsuit against Mortgage Assistance Solutions two months ago, told Dawn that their lender didn't receive that document by fax until Dec. 14 — two days after Dawn received the summons, and called them.
Angry, Dawn demanded her family's money back. Mortgage Assistance Solutions sent her $700 and said it was entitled to the remaining $500 because of the time it spent on her case.
Yet soon after Dawn canceled the services, she says, she received another green-and-white envelope in the mail from Fresh Start. It read: "FORECLOSURE COMPLAINT NOTICE. Your House Is Scheduled To Be Sold At Auction. National Bank."
Michael Stoller, a Los Angeles attorney and owner of Mortgage Assistance Solutions, says, the Reyeses were "denied a repayment plan because of insufficient income and lack of supporting documentation." The family wasn't entitled to a full refund, Stoller explains, because the company charges $150 an hour for time spent negotiating with the lender.
When USA TODAY told Stoller that a non-profit counselor was able to help the Reyeses obtain a new fixed-rate loan with a much lower interest rate in June, he suggested that lenders are more willing to modify delinquent loans to help an owner stay in a home than they were before.
Mortgage Assistance Solutions, Stoller says, has handled more than 6,000 cases this year and refunded $1.1 million this year to homeowners it couldn't help. "That's not a company that takes money from customers and runs away," he says. "Our goal was always to help homeowners."
Still, Stoller says his company is winding down its operations and will stop doing business by early next year, because of increased regulation and competition.
Marilyn Libby, 55, a nursing assistant, says Mortgage Assistance Solutions helped her modify her subprime loan with her lender. She says she feared she "was getting the shaft" from the company, because she had received few updates about her loan and was getting threatening letters from her lender to foreclose on her home in Stout, Ohio.
Libby obtained a lower fixed-rate loan last week, and afterward, she says, "I called Fresh Start and said: 'Thank you, thank you. I can sleep now.' "
But Bob Campbell, executive director of the Rockford Area Affordable Housing Coalition, the non-profit counseling service that helped the Reyeses, says: "I've got a file sitting here on Fresh Start. We sent quite a few names to the (state) attorney general because that was a name we kept running into."
The Better Business Bureau says it's received 106 complaints nationwide against Mortgage Assistance Solutions in the past year.
Preying on the victimized
Two months ago, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley permanently banned foreclosure-assistance companies from taking title of homes and then renting them back to their cash-strapped owners. She's also filed lawsuits against the people operating three such companies.
Consumer complaints about such scams have spiked this year, and she says she expects that trend to continue for the next year or two.
What's most heart-wrenching, Coakley says, is that many victims of foreclosure-rescue scams had already been cheated by predatory lenders.
Those predators, she says, persuaded the victims to take out loans with unfavorable terms, knowing the borrowers probably couldn't afford the payments they'd face once their introductory "teaser" rate reset to a much higher rate.
"We saw this as an egregious problem at the end of a bad process," Coakley says. "We saw people in trouble, in foreclosure, and it appeared to my folks that this was really, in that sense not serious in terms of impact but in terms of perdition. People were coming in to pick at the carrion."
Why people get behind
The most common reasons that lead people to fall behind on their mortgages are job or income loss, health problems or a death in the family. Yet fear, shame or distrust of their lenders keeps about half of borrowers from calling those lenders, according to Freddie Mac.
That communication gap can leave homeowners vulnerable to fast-talking con artists who buy mailing lists of homeowners in default or slap their business ads on telephone poles.
Back at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Lindsey says the saddest stories he hears are from retirees who have lost the only home they've ever owned, thanks to a foreclosure "rescue" fraud.
"That property is their entire life, most of their wealth, they've raised their children there, they are completely emotionally invested in it, and that's exactly the last thing they want to lose," he says. "The vulnerability they are experiencing gets exploited by these 'rescuers.' "
Needless to say there may be some pay back to the investors, but you are best to believe that the person making the money is the one who cooked up this entire scheme. Fortunately many states are addressing this issue and some of these fraudsters are finding their way to jail for misrepresentation. As I’ve often said have your lawyer review ANY contract before you sign that’s good advice no matter if you’re rich or poor.
By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
At the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the phone calls come nearly every day from yet another financially desperate homeowner who's become the victim of a "foreclosure rescue" scam.
"This has become the No. 1 problem in terms of calls we're getting and cases we're filing," says Daniel Lindsey, supervising attorney for the foundation's Home Ownership Preservation Project.
And it's clearly a nationwide problem that's likely to get worse. The Better Business Bureau has received complaints from every state and has issued an alert to warn consumers to be cautious about foreclosure-rescue companies.
TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERS: How to protect yourself from "foreclosure rescue" scams
COMMENTS: Do you know anyone whose home has gone into foreclosure? Share your story.
Alarmed that con artists are taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners, many of whom are buckling under predatory loans, state regulators are cracking down. So far this year, six states have imposed rules against these companies, and six more states have proposed legislation. (Graphic, next page.)
More than 2.2 million Americans are in default on their mortgages. And that figure is expected to grow sharply through next year as 2 million more homeowners with adjustable-rate loans face higher payments. In Ohio, whose foreclosure rate is second-worst in the nation, after Michigan, Attorney General Marc Dann has received hundreds of complaints from all over the state.
"The sad part about this particular offense," Dann says, "is that (the homeowners) lose everything. You lose the little bit of money they had squirreled away, you lose your house and you lose your hope. How do you quantify that?"
In a sweep in August, Dann filed complaints against six companies, including American Housing Authority and Foreclosure Assistance Solutions, and he says he expects to bring a half-dozen more cases in the next few weeks. Phone numbers for the companies were not available.
Regulators and law enforcement in many states are targeting the two most common forms of foreclosure rescue scams: "equity skimming" and bogus or fruitless consulting services.
The first scam works like this: A company offers to take legal ownership of the home temporarily. The homeowners pay "rent" to the company, which promises to return legal ownership to them once they regain their financial footing.
But all too often, con artists borrow as much as they can against the equity in the house — and collect the rent from the original homeowners but never make any mortgage payments. In the end, the property still goes into foreclosure, and any equity the homeowner had built up is gone. Their financial ruin is complete.
The second-most-common foreclosure-rescue pitch goes like this: A company offers to renegotiate the homeowners' mortgage with the lender or help refinance the property. In exchange, they charge an up-front fee, typically $800 to $1,200.
Frequently, though, the company never contacts the lender, or knows the borrower can't qualify for another loan. What little extra cash the homeowner could have used to pay the mortgage or move to an apartment has been wiped out by worthless "services."
There are, of course, hundreds of reputable groups that provide legitimate services for homeowners in trouble. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has certified 2,300 counseling agencies to help homeowners nationwide (www.hud.gov).
HUD and the mortgage industry also support the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which operates a toll-free counseling hotline, 24 hours a day (888-995-HOPE). Last month, it fielded 22,000 calls from homeowners in financial distress.
When scary letters start piling up
A family that's more than two months behind on a mortgage will often come home to a mailbox stuffed with brightly colored envelopes and postcards from companies promising to help them save their homes.
One such postcard that Steve and Dawn Reyes received after Steve lost his job as a carpenter was from Mortgage Assistance Solutions, a Florida-based company that's known by its customers as Fresh Start.
"YOU WILL LOSE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DON'T CALL US NOW!!!" the postcard said.
When Dawn called, the company promised to refund its $1,200 upfront fee if it couldn't help them. A month after they signed up, the Reyeses received a summons stating that their house was scheduled for auction on Dec. 12 of last year.
"I called the guy at Fresh Start, and I'm frantic," recalls Dawn, 27, a stay-at-home mom and first-time homeowner in Machesney Park, Ill. "I said, 'Look, I got this summons to go to court; I thought you were talking to the bank.' "
The reply, she says, was: "Yeah, we're talking with them. I'll call them and put a stop to them. We get a lot of calls like this. It's just a scare tactic; nothing's going to happen."
The Reyeses had signed a document in November of 2006 giving Mortgage Assistance Solutions permission to negotiate with the family's lender. But the Illinois Attorney General's office, which filed a lawsuit against Mortgage Assistance Solutions two months ago, told Dawn that their lender didn't receive that document by fax until Dec. 14 — two days after Dawn received the summons, and called them.
Angry, Dawn demanded her family's money back. Mortgage Assistance Solutions sent her $700 and said it was entitled to the remaining $500 because of the time it spent on her case.
Yet soon after Dawn canceled the services, she says, she received another green-and-white envelope in the mail from Fresh Start. It read: "FORECLOSURE COMPLAINT NOTICE. Your House Is Scheduled To Be Sold At Auction. National Bank."
Michael Stoller, a Los Angeles attorney and owner of Mortgage Assistance Solutions, says, the Reyeses were "denied a repayment plan because of insufficient income and lack of supporting documentation." The family wasn't entitled to a full refund, Stoller explains, because the company charges $150 an hour for time spent negotiating with the lender.
When USA TODAY told Stoller that a non-profit counselor was able to help the Reyeses obtain a new fixed-rate loan with a much lower interest rate in June, he suggested that lenders are more willing to modify delinquent loans to help an owner stay in a home than they were before.
Mortgage Assistance Solutions, Stoller says, has handled more than 6,000 cases this year and refunded $1.1 million this year to homeowners it couldn't help. "That's not a company that takes money from customers and runs away," he says. "Our goal was always to help homeowners."
Still, Stoller says his company is winding down its operations and will stop doing business by early next year, because of increased regulation and competition.
Marilyn Libby, 55, a nursing assistant, says Mortgage Assistance Solutions helped her modify her subprime loan with her lender. She says she feared she "was getting the shaft" from the company, because she had received few updates about her loan and was getting threatening letters from her lender to foreclose on her home in Stout, Ohio.
Libby obtained a lower fixed-rate loan last week, and afterward, she says, "I called Fresh Start and said: 'Thank you, thank you. I can sleep now.' "
But Bob Campbell, executive director of the Rockford Area Affordable Housing Coalition, the non-profit counseling service that helped the Reyeses, says: "I've got a file sitting here on Fresh Start. We sent quite a few names to the (state) attorney general because that was a name we kept running into."
The Better Business Bureau says it's received 106 complaints nationwide against Mortgage Assistance Solutions in the past year.
Preying on the victimized
Two months ago, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley permanently banned foreclosure-assistance companies from taking title of homes and then renting them back to their cash-strapped owners. She's also filed lawsuits against the people operating three such companies.
Consumer complaints about such scams have spiked this year, and she says she expects that trend to continue for the next year or two.
What's most heart-wrenching, Coakley says, is that many victims of foreclosure-rescue scams had already been cheated by predatory lenders.
Those predators, she says, persuaded the victims to take out loans with unfavorable terms, knowing the borrowers probably couldn't afford the payments they'd face once their introductory "teaser" rate reset to a much higher rate.
"We saw this as an egregious problem at the end of a bad process," Coakley says. "We saw people in trouble, in foreclosure, and it appeared to my folks that this was really, in that sense not serious in terms of impact but in terms of perdition. People were coming in to pick at the carrion."
Why people get behind
The most common reasons that lead people to fall behind on their mortgages are job or income loss, health problems or a death in the family. Yet fear, shame or distrust of their lenders keeps about half of borrowers from calling those lenders, according to Freddie Mac.
That communication gap can leave homeowners vulnerable to fast-talking con artists who buy mailing lists of homeowners in default or slap their business ads on telephone poles.
Back at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Lindsey says the saddest stories he hears are from retirees who have lost the only home they've ever owned, thanks to a foreclosure "rescue" fraud.
"That property is their entire life, most of their wealth, they've raised their children there, they are completely emotionally invested in it, and that's exactly the last thing they want to lose," he says. "The vulnerability they are experiencing gets exploited by these 'rescuers.' "
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Something to Think About
Here is a news article in which a man stole $300,000 and only has to do six months behind bars. Odds are he will be out before six months for good behavior. Now a person that does a $200 gas station robbery will probably get a lot more time than this person. We have $ 200 vs $300,000 and the person doing the armed robbery getting more time with this disparity in sentencing one can see why a person would be tempted to commit a white collar crime instead of a street crime. Odds are they will get less time.
Man is sentenced for embezzlement
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The embezzler forged the doctors' signatures, prosecutor says.
YOUNGSTOWN — A former office manager, who the prosecutor said embezzled some $300,000 over six years from a group of local urologists, has been sentenced to three years' probation, with the first six months to be served in the Mahoning County Misdemeanor Jail.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, imposed the sentence Friday on Conrad Straub, 44, of West Wilson Street, Struthers, who had pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to a felony level theft charge.
Straub was taken immediately to the misdemeanor lockup, which is permitted to house nonviolent felons. The judge also sentenced him to 200 hours of community service and to complete a crime victim awareness program.
The indictment said Straub stole the money between March 1999 and March 2005 from NEO Urology Associates Inc. of Parmelee Avenue, which consists of Drs. Richard Memo and Robert and Vincent Ricchiuti.
Straub forged the doctors' signatures on checks to himself and to merchants and opened unauthorized credit cards in the company's name, said J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor.
During one semester, he charged his son's college tuition to the physicians, the prosecutor said.
Straub also used corporate credit cards without authorization to pay for clothing, jewelry, personal laptop computers, expensive cameras, major repairs to his cars, vacations for himself and his family, and cellular phone bills for himself and his son, Thompson said.
"What mattered to the victims was that he be convicted of a felony and that he spend some time incarcerated. They're perfectly satisfied with this sentence," Thompson added.
Man is sentenced for embezzlement
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The embezzler forged the doctors' signatures, prosecutor says.
YOUNGSTOWN — A former office manager, who the prosecutor said embezzled some $300,000 over six years from a group of local urologists, has been sentenced to three years' probation, with the first six months to be served in the Mahoning County Misdemeanor Jail.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, imposed the sentence Friday on Conrad Straub, 44, of West Wilson Street, Struthers, who had pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to a felony level theft charge.
Straub was taken immediately to the misdemeanor lockup, which is permitted to house nonviolent felons. The judge also sentenced him to 200 hours of community service and to complete a crime victim awareness program.
The indictment said Straub stole the money between March 1999 and March 2005 from NEO Urology Associates Inc. of Parmelee Avenue, which consists of Drs. Richard Memo and Robert and Vincent Ricchiuti.
Straub forged the doctors' signatures on checks to himself and to merchants and opened unauthorized credit cards in the company's name, said J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor.
During one semester, he charged his son's college tuition to the physicians, the prosecutor said.
Straub also used corporate credit cards without authorization to pay for clothing, jewelry, personal laptop computers, expensive cameras, major repairs to his cars, vacations for himself and his family, and cellular phone bills for himself and his son, Thompson said.
"What mattered to the victims was that he be convicted of a felony and that he spend some time incarcerated. They're perfectly satisfied with this sentence," Thompson added.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
ID Theft Ring Busted
I've stated that a lot of the big ID theft and check fraud rings are foreign in origin. This was a big ring that got busted; keep in perspective that an armed robbery will usually net a lot less money and about 8 yrs behind bars.
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
NEW YORK: A grand jury has indicted 17 people, among them a Russian-Ukrainian couple, and a corporation on charges of identity theft, worldwide trafficking in stolen credit card numbers and other types of Internet crime, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The 173-count indictment, resulting from the second phase of a two-year investigation, says the defendants trafficked in more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers and caused more than $4 million (€2.7 million) in credit card fraud.
Two of the defendants are a married couple, Vadim Vassilenko, 40, and Yelena Barysheva, 42, who pleaded guilty in September 2006 to falsifying business records and violating the state's banking law by running an unlicensed check cashing and money transfer business in New York.
Vassilenko, born in Ukraine, was sentenced to two to six years in prison, and Barysheva, born in Russia, was sentenced to one to three years. Their son, Alexey Baryshev, is being sought, prosecutors said.
The latest indictment charges that they and several other people, who have been arrested variously in Brooklyn, Maspeth, California, Oregon and Louisiana, moved more than $35 million (€23.77 million) in suspect funds through their service, Western Express International Inc.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney John Bandler said the defendants ran Internet ads saying they had countless credit card numbers and other identifying information to sell to crooks. One site was titled "The International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity."
At the same time, Bandler said, the defendants provided money transfer and currency exchange services for their customers.
Defense lawyer Daniel Gotlin called the new charges against Vassilenko and Barysheva pointless and repetitive, saying many were the same as those charged in 2006. He said prosecutors also were being vindictive because they had wanted harsher sentences.
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
NEW YORK: A grand jury has indicted 17 people, among them a Russian-Ukrainian couple, and a corporation on charges of identity theft, worldwide trafficking in stolen credit card numbers and other types of Internet crime, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The 173-count indictment, resulting from the second phase of a two-year investigation, says the defendants trafficked in more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers and caused more than $4 million (€2.7 million) in credit card fraud.
Two of the defendants are a married couple, Vadim Vassilenko, 40, and Yelena Barysheva, 42, who pleaded guilty in September 2006 to falsifying business records and violating the state's banking law by running an unlicensed check cashing and money transfer business in New York.
Vassilenko, born in Ukraine, was sentenced to two to six years in prison, and Barysheva, born in Russia, was sentenced to one to three years. Their son, Alexey Baryshev, is being sought, prosecutors said.
The latest indictment charges that they and several other people, who have been arrested variously in Brooklyn, Maspeth, California, Oregon and Louisiana, moved more than $35 million (€23.77 million) in suspect funds through their service, Western Express International Inc.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney John Bandler said the defendants ran Internet ads saying they had countless credit card numbers and other identifying information to sell to crooks. One site was titled "The International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity."
At the same time, Bandler said, the defendants provided money transfer and currency exchange services for their customers.
Defense lawyer Daniel Gotlin called the new charges against Vassilenko and Barysheva pointless and repetitive, saying many were the same as those charged in 2006. He said prosecutors also were being vindictive because they had wanted harsher sentences.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Trusted Employee Forges Checks
It never ceases to amaze me about who get busted in some type of fraud or rip off scheme. The owner of the business that got ripped off is no longer in business because of it. This makes you think about how one person can impact the lives of so many others. I'm sure that this company had other employees, not to mention the owner who are now unemployed because of this one person.
Plea deal may be near in forgery, theft case
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret Morning News
Published: November 6, 2007
PROVO — With 28 checks and a forged signature, one woman brought an Orem title company to its knees, leaving the owner out of business and more than $35,000 in debt.
Lorelei Harward, 36, a former escrow agent, is potentially nearing a resolution in her case of 32 felony charges in 4th District Court, including forgery and theft for stealing checks from what used to be Precision Title in Orem, writing them to herself and forging her boss' name.
"They just started missing checks when looking through their check register," said Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson. "They accused her of stealing the checks, then ... writing them out to herself without authorization."
Harward maintains she was only signing her own paychecks between June and October 2006, which she had been able to do throughout her employment as 49 percent owner of the title company, said her attorney, David Stewart.
"In the past, she had signed his name and was authorized to do so if he was gone," Stewart said. "When he switched to a new account ... she was unaware of this and went to pay herself on these accounts."
Stewart said Harward alleges the concerns over her actions only came after her partner began to be investigated.
However, Johnson said he's unaware of allegations against the other owner, which would have come out through several interviews between police and the owner.
But Harward didn't just leave her partner in the lurch. She also is charged with communication fraud and issuing a bad check for her attempt to buy a million-dollar house without actually having any money.
"I've (investigated) lots of forgeries, but I've never had a case like this," said fraud investigator Doug LeDoux with the state Insurance Fraud Division. "This was a pretty dumb thing."
Apparently Harward and an alleged co-conspirator, Mayra Lopez, approached a buyer about a million-dollar home in the Avenues in Salt Lake City.
To assure the seller of their interest, they promised $10,000 in earnest money — the amount the seller demanded after the original contract failed to go through.
The women said they were still negotiating and to assuage fears and prove they had money, Harward faxed over a copy of their "proof."
"Lorelei creates the deposit slip and faxes these two things to the real estate office," LeDoux said. "Here's the check, here's the proof that I deposited it. This was enough ... for the Realtor. They never thought someone would forge this kind of stuff, so they thought, 'Oh good, we have it."'
But when the deadline for the contract passed again, and the real estate agent and buyer demanded the money, the gig was up.
"The market for a million-dollar home is a very narrow market," LeDoux said. "For (the seller) to take it off the market ... and lose all those potential sales, then not get the $10,000 — that's where the real loss occurred to him."
Lopez hasn't yet been charged because county prosecutors can't find her. Harward is hoping to resolve her case, Stewart said, and she waived her preliminary hearing Monday afternoon. She pleaded not guilty and will be in court again Dec. 6.
"We're exploring a plea deal that would maximize the chances that (victims) get their money back," Johnson said. "And full restitution would be part of any deal that is arranged."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com
© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
Plea deal may be near in forgery, theft case
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret Morning News
Published: November 6, 2007
PROVO — With 28 checks and a forged signature, one woman brought an Orem title company to its knees, leaving the owner out of business and more than $35,000 in debt.
Lorelei Harward, 36, a former escrow agent, is potentially nearing a resolution in her case of 32 felony charges in 4th District Court, including forgery and theft for stealing checks from what used to be Precision Title in Orem, writing them to herself and forging her boss' name.
"They just started missing checks when looking through their check register," said Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson. "They accused her of stealing the checks, then ... writing them out to herself without authorization."
Harward maintains she was only signing her own paychecks between June and October 2006, which she had been able to do throughout her employment as 49 percent owner of the title company, said her attorney, David Stewart.
"In the past, she had signed his name and was authorized to do so if he was gone," Stewart said. "When he switched to a new account ... she was unaware of this and went to pay herself on these accounts."
Stewart said Harward alleges the concerns over her actions only came after her partner began to be investigated.
However, Johnson said he's unaware of allegations against the other owner, which would have come out through several interviews between police and the owner.
But Harward didn't just leave her partner in the lurch. She also is charged with communication fraud and issuing a bad check for her attempt to buy a million-dollar house without actually having any money.
"I've (investigated) lots of forgeries, but I've never had a case like this," said fraud investigator Doug LeDoux with the state Insurance Fraud Division. "This was a pretty dumb thing."
Apparently Harward and an alleged co-conspirator, Mayra Lopez, approached a buyer about a million-dollar home in the Avenues in Salt Lake City.
To assure the seller of their interest, they promised $10,000 in earnest money — the amount the seller demanded after the original contract failed to go through.
The women said they were still negotiating and to assuage fears and prove they had money, Harward faxed over a copy of their "proof."
"Lorelei creates the deposit slip and faxes these two things to the real estate office," LeDoux said. "Here's the check, here's the proof that I deposited it. This was enough ... for the Realtor. They never thought someone would forge this kind of stuff, so they thought, 'Oh good, we have it."'
But when the deadline for the contract passed again, and the real estate agent and buyer demanded the money, the gig was up.
"The market for a million-dollar home is a very narrow market," LeDoux said. "For (the seller) to take it off the market ... and lose all those potential sales, then not get the $10,000 — that's where the real loss occurred to him."
Lopez hasn't yet been charged because county prosecutors can't find her. Harward is hoping to resolve her case, Stewart said, and she waived her preliminary hearing Monday afternoon. She pleaded not guilty and will be in court again Dec. 6.
"We're exploring a plea deal that would maximize the chances that (victims) get their money back," Johnson said. "And full restitution would be part of any deal that is arranged."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com
© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
Monday, November 5, 2007
Fraud Hits More Than 1 in 10
It seems that with our current trend of wanting to get rich quick instead of making money the old fashioned way by earning it; that there is no end to rip offs schemes in sight. It's all money motivated on both the business and individual levels. We are seeing more and more rip offs of various sorts because of financial pressures placed on both. Businesses wanting more profit and are subject to cross the legal line and individuals, often head over heels in debt and mired down in poor paying jobs are prone to cross the legal line in order to make ends meet or to have the "good life," as advertised on television.
Consumer Fraud Hit More Than One Out Of Every Ten People
11/3/2007 2:10:02 PM The Federal Trade Commission reported that more than one of every ten people fell victim to fraud last year, with weight-loss scams coming out as the most likely to fool. The FTC reported that 30.2 million adults, 13.5% of the adult population, were victims of fraud during the year studied (2005).
Fraudulent foreign lottery offers and buyers' club memberships tied for second place in the survey, the FTC Stated. Lottery scams occur when consumers are told they have won a foreign lottery that they had not entered. Victims supplied either personal information such as their bank account numbers or paid money to receive their “winnings.” In the case of buyers clubs, victims are billed for a “membership” they had not agreed to buy. An estimated 3.2 million people were victims of these frauds during the period studied.
Print advertising was used to pitch fraudulent offers in nearly 27% of reported incidents. The internet was used in 22% of the fraudulent offers, while television or radio accounted for 21% of the pitches.
The FTC reported that 20% of blacks and 18% of Hispanics are estimated to have been victims, while the rate for non-Hispanic whites was 12%. Additionally, the survey found that younger consumers, those who did not complete college, and those with high levels of debt were more likely to be victims of fraud.
The FTC offers these tips for consumers on their website. The agency suggested that consumers know who they dealing with, and do business only with companies that plainly provide their name, street address, and phone number. The FTC also advised that one should protect personal information. The FTC said to share credit card and other personal information only with companies you know and trust; never share it in email, regardless who is asking for it.
Other tips included taking your time, reading the small print, and remembering that free means free. The commission also urged people to report fraud. They said that if you think you've been a victim of fraud, report it, it's one way to get even with a scam artist who cheated you. The FTC noted that one could complain online at ftc.gov or by phone at 1-877-FTC HELP.
“The FTC uses a one-two punch to fight fraud,” said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the press release from earlier in the week.
“Our enforcement program stops the most widespread and egregious practices, and our education program helps alert consumers to the tricks of the fraud trade,” she continued. “We encourage everyone to click on our Web site - ftc.gov - not only to find out how to recognize a scam, but also to report it. That's the best way to help end rip-offs of all kinds.”
Consumer Fraud Hit More Than One Out Of Every Ten People
11/3/2007 2:10:02 PM The Federal Trade Commission reported that more than one of every ten people fell victim to fraud last year, with weight-loss scams coming out as the most likely to fool. The FTC reported that 30.2 million adults, 13.5% of the adult population, were victims of fraud during the year studied (2005).
Fraudulent foreign lottery offers and buyers' club memberships tied for second place in the survey, the FTC Stated. Lottery scams occur when consumers are told they have won a foreign lottery that they had not entered. Victims supplied either personal information such as their bank account numbers or paid money to receive their “winnings.” In the case of buyers clubs, victims are billed for a “membership” they had not agreed to buy. An estimated 3.2 million people were victims of these frauds during the period studied.
Print advertising was used to pitch fraudulent offers in nearly 27% of reported incidents. The internet was used in 22% of the fraudulent offers, while television or radio accounted for 21% of the pitches.
The FTC reported that 20% of blacks and 18% of Hispanics are estimated to have been victims, while the rate for non-Hispanic whites was 12%. Additionally, the survey found that younger consumers, those who did not complete college, and those with high levels of debt were more likely to be victims of fraud.
The FTC offers these tips for consumers on their website. The agency suggested that consumers know who they dealing with, and do business only with companies that plainly provide their name, street address, and phone number. The FTC also advised that one should protect personal information. The FTC said to share credit card and other personal information only with companies you know and trust; never share it in email, regardless who is asking for it.
Other tips included taking your time, reading the small print, and remembering that free means free. The commission also urged people to report fraud. They said that if you think you've been a victim of fraud, report it, it's one way to get even with a scam artist who cheated you. The FTC noted that one could complain online at ftc.gov or by phone at 1-877-FTC HELP.
“The FTC uses a one-two punch to fight fraud,” said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the press release from earlier in the week.
“Our enforcement program stops the most widespread and egregious practices, and our education program helps alert consumers to the tricks of the fraud trade,” she continued. “We encourage everyone to click on our Web site - ftc.gov - not only to find out how to recognize a scam, but also to report it. That's the best way to help end rip-offs of all kinds.”
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Scout Leader Pleads Guilty in Tax Fraud
This one makes me think that there is no line a scammer will not cross; truly nothing is sacred to them, not even scouting.
Scout Leader Pleads Guilty To Using Girls For Tax Fraud Thursday, November 01, 2007 11:58:12 AM
A Florida Girl Scout leader is pleading guilty to stealing her scouts' Social Security numbers and then using them for tax fraud, netting her $87,000.
Holly Barnes from the Panhandle, entered pleas to 19 counts of making false tax refund claims to the Internal Revenue Services and 5 counts of identity theft.
She also pleaded guilty to shoplifting merchandise and then returning them for refunds totaling more than $6,000. She could face a maximum of 230 years in prison when sentenced.
Scout Leader Pleads Guilty To Using Girls For Tax Fraud Thursday, November 01, 2007 11:58:12 AM
A Florida Girl Scout leader is pleading guilty to stealing her scouts' Social Security numbers and then using them for tax fraud, netting her $87,000.
Holly Barnes from the Panhandle, entered pleas to 19 counts of making false tax refund claims to the Internal Revenue Services and 5 counts of identity theft.
She also pleaded guilty to shoplifting merchandise and then returning them for refunds totaling more than $6,000. She could face a maximum of 230 years in prison when sentenced.
Friday, November 2, 2007
What's in a Name?
What's in a name? Everything is in a name and doing things the right way is more important now than ever, with the scandals at Enron and World Com, legitimate credentials and integrity matter more today than ever before. I think the following is a case of gross misrepresentation of a material fact and how sooner or later the truth will be found out.
Prof demoted due to diploma-mill credentials By Betty Parker Originally posted on October 09, 2007
DELIVERING YOUR WORLD• Subscribe to The News-Press• Place a classified ad• Printer friendly version• Email this article
Misunderstandings over a Lehigh Acres candidate’s academic credentials led to an employment demotion at one of his jobs, but Keith Richter said Tuesday he plans to start over soon on getting a Ph.D from a recognized U.S. institution. As for repeated references to him as “Dr. Richter” in minutes and other documents of the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Corp., of which he’s a board member, Richter said he has asked others not to refer to him by the doctoral title, “but they just like to do that,” he said.After being hired this fall as an adjunct faculty member at Hodges University, Richter’s status was recently lowered to “teaching assistant” after university officials realized he claimed a master’s degree in math from Canterbury University.Located in England, Canterbury is referred to in professional education journals and elsewhere as a group that functions essentially as a diploma mill.The state of Oregon, for example, warns job seekers on its Web site that degrees from Canterbury and other similar institutions will not count toward employment.Richter never claimed to have a Ph.D., said Jeanette Brock, Hodges’ executive vice president for academic affairs. But his master’s came from Canterbury, and his Web site and press releases regarding his candidacy as a Republican for state House District 72 say he is working on a Ph.D. from Canterbury.His bachelor’s degree in math from the University of South Florida is acceptable for the assistant job, working under a faculty member’s supervision in a freshman math class, Brock said. Whether Richter is re-hired next semester remains to be seen, she added.When contacted Tuesday about his academic background, Richter first said he’d finished his Ph.D. from Canterbury early this year.But when asked about recent campaign materials saying he’s still working on it, Richter said he had not finished paying for it and is still involved in a complex completion process that he thought might make the degree acceptable in this country.He then said he hopes to go back and get both a masters degree and a Ph.D. from a Florida state university.“I’ll go back and do it all over again just to make sure there is no impropriety,” he said.“I’ve lost about $7,400, but sometimes you have to chalk things up as a lesson and move on.”Richter said he thought the Canterbury degrees would be good even though the school is not accredited or recognized in this country. He did not attempt to “scam” Hodges, he said, nor did he mean to mislead others who heard about the degree.Brock, from Hodges, also seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.“I’m not sure he knew the difference,” she said of her discussions with Richter about his credentials.Florida law makes it a crime to claim falsely to have an academic degree or title; the offense is a first-degree misdemeanor.“Wow, this sounds like quite a deception,” said Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, who Richter is challenging for re-election. “If he’s been lying about all that, it makes you wonder what else he’s lying about.”Richter, 39, said he’s also spent 11 years as a public school teacher in Lee, Hendry and Glades counties, and now owns a business called Computer Solutions of Southwest Florida, Inc. He filed papers Aug. 17 to start fundraising for the state House contest. In the reporting period that ended Sept. 30, documents show he raised about $610, including $160 of his own money, and spent most of it.
Prof demoted due to diploma-mill credentials By Betty Parker Originally posted on October 09, 2007
DELIVERING YOUR WORLD• Subscribe to The News-Press• Place a classified ad• Printer friendly version• Email this article
Misunderstandings over a Lehigh Acres candidate’s academic credentials led to an employment demotion at one of his jobs, but Keith Richter said Tuesday he plans to start over soon on getting a Ph.D from a recognized U.S. institution. As for repeated references to him as “Dr. Richter” in minutes and other documents of the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Corp., of which he’s a board member, Richter said he has asked others not to refer to him by the doctoral title, “but they just like to do that,” he said.After being hired this fall as an adjunct faculty member at Hodges University, Richter’s status was recently lowered to “teaching assistant” after university officials realized he claimed a master’s degree in math from Canterbury University.Located in England, Canterbury is referred to in professional education journals and elsewhere as a group that functions essentially as a diploma mill.The state of Oregon, for example, warns job seekers on its Web site that degrees from Canterbury and other similar institutions will not count toward employment.Richter never claimed to have a Ph.D., said Jeanette Brock, Hodges’ executive vice president for academic affairs. But his master’s came from Canterbury, and his Web site and press releases regarding his candidacy as a Republican for state House District 72 say he is working on a Ph.D. from Canterbury.His bachelor’s degree in math from the University of South Florida is acceptable for the assistant job, working under a faculty member’s supervision in a freshman math class, Brock said. Whether Richter is re-hired next semester remains to be seen, she added.When contacted Tuesday about his academic background, Richter first said he’d finished his Ph.D. from Canterbury early this year.But when asked about recent campaign materials saying he’s still working on it, Richter said he had not finished paying for it and is still involved in a complex completion process that he thought might make the degree acceptable in this country.He then said he hopes to go back and get both a masters degree and a Ph.D. from a Florida state university.“I’ll go back and do it all over again just to make sure there is no impropriety,” he said.“I’ve lost about $7,400, but sometimes you have to chalk things up as a lesson and move on.”Richter said he thought the Canterbury degrees would be good even though the school is not accredited or recognized in this country. He did not attempt to “scam” Hodges, he said, nor did he mean to mislead others who heard about the degree.Brock, from Hodges, also seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.“I’m not sure he knew the difference,” she said of her discussions with Richter about his credentials.Florida law makes it a crime to claim falsely to have an academic degree or title; the offense is a first-degree misdemeanor.“Wow, this sounds like quite a deception,” said Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, who Richter is challenging for re-election. “If he’s been lying about all that, it makes you wonder what else he’s lying about.”Richter, 39, said he’s also spent 11 years as a public school teacher in Lee, Hendry and Glades counties, and now owns a business called Computer Solutions of Southwest Florida, Inc. He filed papers Aug. 17 to start fundraising for the state House contest. In the reporting period that ended Sept. 30, documents show he raised about $610, including $160 of his own money, and spent most of it.
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