(Tampa Tribune (FL) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 12--Seizing on the major fiscal news of the year, Internet scammers are trying to use federal economic stimulus checks as a hook to steal personal financial information, the Internal Revenue Service warns.
Almost 700 such scam attempts were reported in May and June, bringing the tally for 2008 to about 1,600.
Victims of these fraud attempts -- which are called "phishing" scams -- received official-looking e-mails purporting to be from the IRS and requesting personal information to expedite the receipt of their checks.
With an address and Social Security number in hand, a scammer then can open fraudulent credit card accounts or take out false loans, damaging the victim's credit rating.
"Generally you can look at them and find grammar errors and punctuation errors, and they're not professional," said IRS spokeswoman Gloria Sutton.
"If you receive an unsolicited e-mail purporting to be from the IRS, don't open it. We do not send unsolicited e-mails. The IRS would have no reason to ask for your PIN number or bank account."
The IRS asks that anyone who receives a phishing e-mail forward it to so the agency can trace the scam's origins.
Between 2006, when the agency opened the account, and November, the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration had identified host sites in at least 27 countries in addition to the United States.
The economic stimulus fraud isn't the first time scammers have taken advantage of current events to steal cash or identities, said Sally Hurme, senior project manager with AARP financial security in Washington.
Natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have been used to drum up donations for nonexistent charities.
"The key about any scam is that the scamsters like to follow the news," Hurme said.
"Even before the president signed the bill, the IRS reported that there were phishing schemes popping up."
In other scams reported this year, victims have received e-mails appearing to be from the IRS and offering tax refunds in exchange for personal information.
Sometimes scammers also will send e-mails with phony links, which install malicious code on the victim's computers.
Showing posts with label Scam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scam. Show all posts
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Hacked personal e-mail accounts used to scam contacts - echannelline.com - 11 Jul 2008
In Symantec Corp.'s July 2008 edition of its monthly spam report, one of its findings noted that hackers were using personal e-mail accounts to scam contacts in a user's address book.
The twist was that the e-mail came from a user's hacked webmail account and was sent to their personal list of contacts. People on this list would receive an e-mail request for financial assistance and were urged to respond via e-mail only. As the hacker took over the users account, the real owner would not have known about the e-mail if the recipients fell for the scam. As a further stamp of authentication, the auto-signature typically used by the account owner was included at the end of the message. The Symantec report indicated that this scam was a variation of the Nigerian spam.
However, the account owner was quickly notified by a friend via telephone of the scam, and immediately contacted the webmail service providers to get his account access back. This proved to be difficult because the hacker had changed the account details such as password, address and secret question.
According to Kelly Conley, manager of anti-spam research with Symantec Security Response, hackers were able to obtain this information because they replied to an e-mail request for an account update.
"You never want to respond to account expiration or update notifications because there is a good chance those are spammers trying to scam personal account information," she said.
Symantec stressed that this scam was not isolated to one particular webmail provider or organization. This scam also serves as a timely reminder that users should always keep passwords secure and never share them with anyone.
As well, Conley said that if a person were to receive such an e-mail, it should immediately raise a red flag.
"They should be suspicious, especially if it is out of the ordinary for the character of the person," she noted.
Also in the July spam report, Symantec discovered that spammers were simplifying their e-mail harvesting technique. To obtain e-mail addresses spammers used spambots which crawl the Internet looking for e-mail addresses, bombarded an e-mail server with e-mail addresses and storing the addresses that do not bounce, or bought lists of e-mail addresses from other spammers.
They used these addresses to send messages whose recipients were interested in receiving certain offers and encouraging these people to e-mail them back. The list of e-mail addresses that may be compiled would be very useful for the spammer. Not only were these people interested in buying the kind of products that the spammer was offering, but its a bona fide opt-in list, one that the spammer can now send messages to freely without concern that he will be sending to spamtraps, or that the message will be blocked by spam filters.
As well, the report noted spammers were using the recent earthquake tragedy in China to spread viruses by sending e-mails with news headlines, hoping it would entice the reader to open the message.
A video was embedded into the link that was in the e-mail which users were then lured into playing the video, which in turn opened an executable file. This executable file has been detected as Trojan.Peacom.D by Symantec AntiVirus software. Trojan.Peacomm.D is a Trojan horse that gathers system information and e-mail addresses from the compromised computer. Users should be aware of such attempts, and avoid opening e-mails and clicking on suspicious links.
Additionally, spammers turned to old techniques to lure in victims. Symantec noted in June that they were using bogus news headlines in an e-mail subject header to get recipients to open the message and click on a link that directs them to a spam offer.
Some of the headlines include: White House hit by lightening, catches fire; Donald Trump missing, feared kidnapped; and Obama quits presidential race.
Symantec warned that curiosity killed the cat and may result in people becoming an unwitting target for spammers. Conley advised that people use a reputable news source to confirm these headlines.
Other findings of the report noted spam targeting the Japanese mobile phone market. As people spend more time using mobile devices to check e-mail, the growth of these types of mobile spam messages is expected to continue. Conley said that the majority of spam noted were adult-related and was sent purely as spam and not to obtain personal information.
Also, as the Beijing Olympics nears, so do more spam related to them. In the latest scam, messages claiming to originate from the Beijing Olympic committee have been observed where fraudulent messages purport to declare the winners of the lottery for an Olympic promotion.
"People should exercise due diligence when checking out their e-mail, don't give out personal information and be suspicious of scams as there are a lot of scams going on these days," stressed Conley.
By Vanessa Ho
The twist was that the e-mail came from a user's hacked webmail account and was sent to their personal list of contacts. People on this list would receive an e-mail request for financial assistance and were urged to respond via e-mail only. As the hacker took over the users account, the real owner would not have known about the e-mail if the recipients fell for the scam. As a further stamp of authentication, the auto-signature typically used by the account owner was included at the end of the message. The Symantec report indicated that this scam was a variation of the Nigerian spam.
However, the account owner was quickly notified by a friend via telephone of the scam, and immediately contacted the webmail service providers to get his account access back. This proved to be difficult because the hacker had changed the account details such as password, address and secret question.
According to Kelly Conley, manager of anti-spam research with Symantec Security Response, hackers were able to obtain this information because they replied to an e-mail request for an account update.
"You never want to respond to account expiration or update notifications because there is a good chance those are spammers trying to scam personal account information," she said.
Symantec stressed that this scam was not isolated to one particular webmail provider or organization. This scam also serves as a timely reminder that users should always keep passwords secure and never share them with anyone.
As well, Conley said that if a person were to receive such an e-mail, it should immediately raise a red flag.
"They should be suspicious, especially if it is out of the ordinary for the character of the person," she noted.
Also in the July spam report, Symantec discovered that spammers were simplifying their e-mail harvesting technique. To obtain e-mail addresses spammers used spambots which crawl the Internet looking for e-mail addresses, bombarded an e-mail server with e-mail addresses and storing the addresses that do not bounce, or bought lists of e-mail addresses from other spammers.
They used these addresses to send messages whose recipients were interested in receiving certain offers and encouraging these people to e-mail them back. The list of e-mail addresses that may be compiled would be very useful for the spammer. Not only were these people interested in buying the kind of products that the spammer was offering, but its a bona fide opt-in list, one that the spammer can now send messages to freely without concern that he will be sending to spamtraps, or that the message will be blocked by spam filters.
As well, the report noted spammers were using the recent earthquake tragedy in China to spread viruses by sending e-mails with news headlines, hoping it would entice the reader to open the message.
A video was embedded into the link that was in the e-mail which users were then lured into playing the video, which in turn opened an executable file. This executable file has been detected as Trojan.Peacom.D by Symantec AntiVirus software. Trojan.Peacomm.D is a Trojan horse that gathers system information and e-mail addresses from the compromised computer. Users should be aware of such attempts, and avoid opening e-mails and clicking on suspicious links.
Additionally, spammers turned to old techniques to lure in victims. Symantec noted in June that they were using bogus news headlines in an e-mail subject header to get recipients to open the message and click on a link that directs them to a spam offer.
Some of the headlines include: White House hit by lightening, catches fire; Donald Trump missing, feared kidnapped; and Obama quits presidential race.
Symantec warned that curiosity killed the cat and may result in people becoming an unwitting target for spammers. Conley advised that people use a reputable news source to confirm these headlines.
Other findings of the report noted spam targeting the Japanese mobile phone market. As people spend more time using mobile devices to check e-mail, the growth of these types of mobile spam messages is expected to continue. Conley said that the majority of spam noted were adult-related and was sent purely as spam and not to obtain personal information.
Also, as the Beijing Olympics nears, so do more spam related to them. In the latest scam, messages claiming to originate from the Beijing Olympic committee have been observed where fraudulent messages purport to declare the winners of the lottery for an Olympic promotion.
"People should exercise due diligence when checking out their e-mail, don't give out personal information and be suspicious of scams as there are a lot of scams going on these days," stressed Conley.
By Vanessa Ho
Friday, June 13, 2008
IRS issues scam warning - www.wane.com - 11 Jun 2008
INDIANAPOLIS -The Internal Revenue Service wants you to know there may be a scam waiting in your e-mail inbox that looks very official but is dangerous to you and your computer.
"We're getting reports of people receiving an e-mail that appears to come from the IRS and tells recipients to respond to get their 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund," said Jodie Reynolds, IRS spokesperson for Indiana and Kentucky.
Reynolds says there are three things the IRS needs people to remember:
-The IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails about your taxes.
-If you get a scam e-mail, don't access any links or attachments.
-If you have filed a 2007 federal tax return with the IRS, you don't need to do anything else to get a stimulus payment. The IRS will take care of the rest.
According to Reynolds, if you have accessed a link or attachment in a scam e-mail, you may have allowed the scammer to download malicious software to your computer and you should immediately scan for viruses and spyware, plus be alert for suspicious activity on your financial accounts.
"If you have actually responded to a scam e-mail by giving out your private information," Reynolds said, "you should immediately take steps to prevent identity theft. You may now be a prime target."
"Taxpayers can help the IRS stop scammers by sending the original scam e-mail to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. The e-mail must be forwarded using special instructions at IRS.gov or it loses the encoding needed to track it to its source," Reynolds said.
The IRS has received about 33,000 forwarded scam e-mails, reflecting more than a thousand different incidents. Investigations by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration have identified host sites in numerous countries, including Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, England, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Singapore and Slovakia, as well as the United States.
Reynolds also cautioned that scammers make contacts in various ways.
"While the IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails or text messages," she said, "we do frequently use the U.S. Mail and may even use a phone call or a visit to make contact with taxpayers. Scammers know this and may also use one of these methods to contact people."
The IRS usually already has information that includes your Social Security number, so it would be unusual for an IRS employee to ask for that. And if the person is asking for credit card, bank account or PIN numbers, that's a big red flag that it's not really the IRS contacting you.
If you have any doubt as to whether the person contacting you is really from the IRS, decline giving out any information until you have contacted the IRS toll-free at 1-800-829-1040 to confirm that it is a legitimate contact.
For more information about tax scams, visit www.irs.gov and check out the Dirty Dozen, a list of tax scams updated each year by the IRS. The IRS also provides information on its Web site to help taxpayers protect their personal and financial information. Just type Identity Theft in the key word search feature for additional information.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Con artists eye seniors for swindles - JDnews.com - 02 Jun 2008
Dear Readers: A man in California is found guilty of taking more than $5 million dollars in an investment scheme carried out in a retirement home. A Canadian couple is arrested for allegedly victimizing many consumers across the U.S. by selling a bogus credit card protection plan via telemarketing. Finally, a financial planner/estate lawyer in Maryland pleads guilty to defrauding his own clients.
In these three cases, there is one common thread: All of the victims were senior citizens. Why are seniors more likely to become victims of such bogus schemes?
According to the FBI, con artists seek out older citizens for several reasons. Many seniors have a nest egg. In addition, they are not as likely to report fraud because they aren't sure to whom such a report should be made. Furthermore, they are quite embarrassed at having been victimized and really don't want to discuss it.And finally, the products being sold tend to be age-related.
Given the fact that baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are now the largest segment of our population - 78 million - it's reasonable to believe such swindles will only grow in numbers. In addition, even those willing to acknowledge they've been scammed may never see their money again because more and more con artists are operating outside the U.S. and thus are more difficult for law enforcement to track down.
Among the many types of scams commonly used to defraud seniors are: identity theft; home repair schemes; health insurance fraud; foreign lotteries and sweepstakes; advance fee, credit card and investment scams.
Though the FBI does not handle isolated cases, they offer the following recommendations to avoid becoming a victim. Many of these suggestions will be familiar to regular readers:
Do not give out personal information to anyone via telephone, Internet or mail unless you personally initiated the contact.
Shred credit card receipts and old bank account statements. Close credit card and bank accounts you no longer use.
If you don't understand the offer, do not respond. Even if you do have some interest, ask that all information be provided to you in writing.
Do not pay for any services in advance.
If you are not sure about a particular offer, talk to your family or a trusted friend. Let them review the paperwork and give you the benefit of their opinion.
Should you become a victim of fraud, don't allow yourself to go into denial. Contact local law enforcement immediately and follow their recommendations.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
China warns against Olympics scams - Zeenews.com - 29 May 2008
Beijing, May 29: Tricksters are setting up fake Olympic ticket websites, selling Olympic bonds that do not exist and running fraudulent Olympic-linked competitions, state media said on Thursday, warning people not to be taken in.
There were eight common Olympic-themed frauds, the official news agency said.
In one, text massages are sent out claming the recipient has won a prize from the Beijing Games organisers, but then the person is told they have to pay tax upfront to get the prize, the news agency said.
In another, people are told that a warehouse containing Olympic medals caught fire and several medals are missing, but that the government was offering rewards for their return, though the report did not explain exactly how the fraud was carried out.
A third involves the setting up of a fake Olympic ticket website which offers to sell unclaimed pre-booked or reserved tickets, and a fourth offers to sell special Olympic bonds or financial funds."
They spin a web of lies to tempt and deceive people, and carry out their frauds by taking advantage of victims` desire for a small gain," the news agency said.Police are warning people to be cautious and not to let their guard down, the report added.
There were eight common Olympic-themed frauds, the official news agency said.
In one, text massages are sent out claming the recipient has won a prize from the Beijing Games organisers, but then the person is told they have to pay tax upfront to get the prize, the news agency said.
In another, people are told that a warehouse containing Olympic medals caught fire and several medals are missing, but that the government was offering rewards for their return, though the report did not explain exactly how the fraud was carried out.
A third involves the setting up of a fake Olympic ticket website which offers to sell unclaimed pre-booked or reserved tickets, and a fourth offers to sell special Olympic bonds or financial funds."
They spin a web of lies to tempt and deceive people, and carry out their frauds by taking advantage of victims` desire for a small gain," the news agency said.Police are warning people to be cautious and not to let their guard down, the report added.
Friday, May 23, 2008
9 months on, 6 arrests made in ADC Bank scam - TOI Ahmedabad - 23 May 2008
Ahmedabad: A cooperative bank scam that came to light in 2007, saw its first arrest nine months later, on Wednesday.
The needle of suspicion is now pointing towards bank officials and also towards the police for soft-pedalling the case. The scam is related to the Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank, Dholera branch.
Between 2003 and 2006, the bank granted agriculture loans worth a total of Rs 1.18 crore to 16 farmers.
This scam came to light when a police complaint was registered at Dholka police station by 16 farmers in July 2007. Farmers alleged that fraudsters had misused their names and bank account details to claim the loans on the basis of false pretence and fake documents.
Police, however, sat on the complaint without doing anything. They too had to be goaded into action. When all the 16 farmers of Bhangad in Dholka threatened to move the HC, the cops made the first arrest.
The Dholka police on Wednesday arrested one of the accused, Chandu Kanani, on Wednesday. Kanani, chairman of a Banwad Seva Cooperative Society, was produced before a Dhandhuka court on Wednesday and taken for a 10-day remand.
JD Jhala, DySP, Dholka, said: “This is the first arrest. During remand we hope to get names of other accused and more arrests will follow.”
Police now believe that between 2003 and 2006 the scam was masterminded by some corrupt bank officers and some people posing as bonafide famers. The loans were never repaid.
In 2007, when the bank’s auditor sent letters to the 16 farmers in 2007. The letter said that the loans that the farmers have taken by mortgaging their farm lands had not been repaid. Ironically, all the 16 farmers were poor and did not own any land. When they met the bank officers to complain, they were not taken seriously.
When even after a lot of chaos the bank authoities did not agree to take note of their complaint, the farmers loged a police complaint that both they and the bank have been cheated.
Soon after the complaint was lodged, somebody - bank officials have kept the names secret - repaid the loan!
Police officials believe that this must be one of the many such scams where loans were taken and then repaid too. Modus Operandi Sanction of agricultural loan is governed by welllaid-out norms. These norms specify price for each hectare of plot on which the loan is sanctioned. For Bhangad, Dholka, maximum amount of loan that can be given for a one-hectare plot is Rs 10,000. But the scamsters with bank officials fixed the rate at Rs 25,000 per hectare. The loan applicants also claimed that they cultivated BT Cotton on this land. When police checked this with Talati of Bhangad, he said that cotton is not cultivated in this zone because it’s a water-scarce zone. And, cotton requires lot of water.
Prashant Dayal TNN
The needle of suspicion is now pointing towards bank officials and also towards the police for soft-pedalling the case. The scam is related to the Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank, Dholera branch.
Between 2003 and 2006, the bank granted agriculture loans worth a total of Rs 1.18 crore to 16 farmers.
This scam came to light when a police complaint was registered at Dholka police station by 16 farmers in July 2007. Farmers alleged that fraudsters had misused their names and bank account details to claim the loans on the basis of false pretence and fake documents.
Police, however, sat on the complaint without doing anything. They too had to be goaded into action. When all the 16 farmers of Bhangad in Dholka threatened to move the HC, the cops made the first arrest.
The Dholka police on Wednesday arrested one of the accused, Chandu Kanani, on Wednesday. Kanani, chairman of a Banwad Seva Cooperative Society, was produced before a Dhandhuka court on Wednesday and taken for a 10-day remand.
JD Jhala, DySP, Dholka, said: “This is the first arrest. During remand we hope to get names of other accused and more arrests will follow.”
Police now believe that between 2003 and 2006 the scam was masterminded by some corrupt bank officers and some people posing as bonafide famers. The loans were never repaid.
In 2007, when the bank’s auditor sent letters to the 16 farmers in 2007. The letter said that the loans that the farmers have taken by mortgaging their farm lands had not been repaid. Ironically, all the 16 farmers were poor and did not own any land. When they met the bank officers to complain, they were not taken seriously.
When even after a lot of chaos the bank authoities did not agree to take note of their complaint, the farmers loged a police complaint that both they and the bank have been cheated.
Soon after the complaint was lodged, somebody - bank officials have kept the names secret - repaid the loan!
Police officials believe that this must be one of the many such scams where loans were taken and then repaid too. Modus Operandi Sanction of agricultural loan is governed by welllaid-out norms. These norms specify price for each hectare of plot on which the loan is sanctioned. For Bhangad, Dholka, maximum amount of loan that can be given for a one-hectare plot is Rs 10,000. But the scamsters with bank officials fixed the rate at Rs 25,000 per hectare. The loan applicants also claimed that they cultivated BT Cotton on this land. When police checked this with Talati of Bhangad, he said that cotton is not cultivated in this zone because it’s a water-scarce zone. And, cotton requires lot of water.
Prashant Dayal TNN
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Muthoot has tough task ahead - HT-Ludhiana Live 22 May 2008
It's tough to identify the owner of each jewellery item
EVEN AFTER recovery of the multicrore booty comprising gold and cash (Rs 2.82 crore), the Muthoot Finance authorities have before them the tedious task of identifying the owners of the each jewellery item.
The matter came to light on Monday morning at 7.27 a.m. only as the security alarm rang at the company's Gurgaon office. This was considered to be the biggest theft in the recent times in the city.
The gold belongs to more than 450 customers who had taken loans by pledging their jewellery with the bank. The finance company gives loans up to 70 per cent of the gold's market value. Major chunk of the gold recovered by the police was in the form of jewellery.
Before giving the loan, MF has a practice of weighing the gold and then attach reference of the customer on it, which had been destroyed by the accused.
After committing the theft, the accused duo reportedly took all the booty to the factory of Aggarwal's father and burnt the reference slips there. As per the information available, though they had burnt the references, they did not remove them from the packets, which was the only ray of hope for the bank to solve the puzzle. H.P.S. Grewal, newly-appointed man ager of MF, said: "We would be tallying the weight of the gold jewellery with our records to identify the owners," he said, even though he admitted that the task was not easy as 450 names were there.
"But we have expert team to deal with such situations and hopefully, it would be done." Sources that packets containing equal weight of gold could create trouble regarding the ownership and it could get many days to identify the owners.
The recovered gold was likely to be handed over to the MF soon as they had completed all the legal formalities, said SSP R.K. Jaiswal, who had overseen the investigations in connection with the case.
link to previous post -
http://fraudcontrol.blogspot.com/2008/05/bank-manager-was-mastermind-ht-ludhiana.html
EVEN AFTER recovery of the multicrore booty comprising gold and cash (Rs 2.82 crore), the Muthoot Finance authorities have before them the tedious task of identifying the owners of the each jewellery item.
The matter came to light on Monday morning at 7.27 a.m. only as the security alarm rang at the company's Gurgaon office. This was considered to be the biggest theft in the recent times in the city.
The gold belongs to more than 450 customers who had taken loans by pledging their jewellery with the bank. The finance company gives loans up to 70 per cent of the gold's market value. Major chunk of the gold recovered by the police was in the form of jewellery.
Before giving the loan, MF has a practice of weighing the gold and then attach reference of the customer on it, which had been destroyed by the accused.
After committing the theft, the accused duo reportedly took all the booty to the factory of Aggarwal's father and burnt the reference slips there. As per the information available, though they had burnt the references, they did not remove them from the packets, which was the only ray of hope for the bank to solve the puzzle. H.P.S. Grewal, newly-appointed man ager of MF, said: "We would be tallying the weight of the gold jewellery with our records to identify the owners," he said, even though he admitted that the task was not easy as 450 names were there.
"But we have expert team to deal with such situations and hopefully, it would be done." Sources that packets containing equal weight of gold could create trouble regarding the ownership and it could get many days to identify the owners.
The recovered gold was likely to be handed over to the MF soon as they had completed all the legal formalities, said SSP R.K. Jaiswal, who had overseen the investigations in connection with the case.
link to previous post -
http://fraudcontrol.blogspot.com/2008/05/bank-manager-was-mastermind-ht-ludhiana.html
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Bank manager was mastermind - HT - Ludhiana Live 21 May 2008
Cops crack multi-crore theft case at Muthoot Finance PILLAI PLOTTED THEFT WITH CHILDHOOD FRIEND PUNEET, SON OF CITY INDUSTRIALIST
QUICKLY piecing together parts of the jigsaw puzzle, Ludhiana police today cracked the multi-crore theft case at Muthoot Finance (MF), recovering the entire stolen amount. The culprit turned out to be none other than the company's officiating manager Pillai and his childhood crorepati friend Puneet Aggarwal, son of a rich city industrialist.
Gold worth Rs 2.82 crore and Rs 2.78 lakh in cash were found stolen from MF yesterday morning in what is believed to be the biggest theft in the city in recent times.
Inspector General of Police Sanjiv Kalra told mediapersons at a press conference today that the accused started hatching the conspiracy around a month ago, which is how they managed to outmanoeuvre the modern security gadgets installed at the MF branch at Miller Gung.
The MF has foolproof security and besides the best safety technology employees followed spe , cial practices to ensure that a single employee could not access the lockers by himself.
Following their hunch that the handiwork could only be that of an insider having "friendly access", the police studied the secu rity system at the branch in depth and "that's how they managed to zero in on the accused," said Kalra.
Divulging details, he said though the theft was carried out on Saturday evening, 25-year-old Pillai caused the alarm to ring on Monday morning to mislead the police.
Information has it that alarms installed in the branches go off if the access code is not entered within 30 seconds of opening the locks. As per the safety norms at the bank, two locker keys are kept. "While the custody of one lies with the manager, the deputy manager is the custodian of the other. But on Saturday taking ad , vantage of the deputy manager's confidence in him, Pillai took his keys and returned them a while later, pretending that he had se cured the locker," said Kalra.
At the end of the day when the , staff had left, Pillai and his friend Aggarwal cleaned up all the gold and cash, stuffing the valuables in a blue bag that they took to a hotel room booked under a fake name, said Kalra, adding that interestingly both the accused divid , ed the gold honestly into two bags. While Pillai took it home, Aggar wal hid it in his factory at Focal Point.
Around 7.27 a.m. on Monday to , send the police on a wild goose chase, Pillai opened the main door of the branch without entering the password, making the alarm ring all the way to the Muthoot Finance (MF) headquarters in Gurgoan. The head office immediately called their manager, Pillai, asking him to rush to the branch, revealed the cop.
"Though Pillai was right in the branch, he told the head office that he was near his house and when he arrived at the branch office after 25 minutes, he pretended to have discovered the robbery ," Kalra told mediapersons.
QUICKLY piecing together parts of the jigsaw puzzle, Ludhiana police today cracked the multi-crore theft case at Muthoot Finance (MF), recovering the entire stolen amount. The culprit turned out to be none other than the company's officiating manager Pillai and his childhood crorepati friend Puneet Aggarwal, son of a rich city industrialist.
Gold worth Rs 2.82 crore and Rs 2.78 lakh in cash were found stolen from MF yesterday morning in what is believed to be the biggest theft in the city in recent times.
Inspector General of Police Sanjiv Kalra told mediapersons at a press conference today that the accused started hatching the conspiracy around a month ago, which is how they managed to outmanoeuvre the modern security gadgets installed at the MF branch at Miller Gung.
The MF has foolproof security and besides the best safety technology employees followed spe , cial practices to ensure that a single employee could not access the lockers by himself.
Following their hunch that the handiwork could only be that of an insider having "friendly access", the police studied the secu rity system at the branch in depth and "that's how they managed to zero in on the accused," said Kalra.
Divulging details, he said though the theft was carried out on Saturday evening, 25-year-old Pillai caused the alarm to ring on Monday morning to mislead the police.
Information has it that alarms installed in the branches go off if the access code is not entered within 30 seconds of opening the locks. As per the safety norms at the bank, two locker keys are kept. "While the custody of one lies with the manager, the deputy manager is the custodian of the other. But on Saturday taking ad , vantage of the deputy manager's confidence in him, Pillai took his keys and returned them a while later, pretending that he had se cured the locker," said Kalra.
At the end of the day when the , staff had left, Pillai and his friend Aggarwal cleaned up all the gold and cash, stuffing the valuables in a blue bag that they took to a hotel room booked under a fake name, said Kalra, adding that interestingly both the accused divid , ed the gold honestly into two bags. While Pillai took it home, Aggar wal hid it in his factory at Focal Point.
Around 7.27 a.m. on Monday to , send the police on a wild goose chase, Pillai opened the main door of the branch without entering the password, making the alarm ring all the way to the Muthoot Finance (MF) headquarters in Gurgoan. The head office immediately called their manager, Pillai, asking him to rush to the branch, revealed the cop.
"Though Pillai was right in the branch, he told the head office that he was near his house and when he arrived at the branch office after 25 minutes, he pretended to have discovered the robbery ," Kalra told mediapersons.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
SEC charges eight ex-AOL Time Warner execs - Reuters 20 May 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged eight former executives of AOL Time Warner, now known as Time Warner Inc, in a fraudulent scheme that overstated company advertising revenue by more than $1 billion.
Four of the defendants settled with the SEC and the other four are facing fraud-related charges in federal court in New York.
The former executives participated in a scheme from mid-2000 to mid-2002 to artificially inflate the company's reported online advertising revenue, the SEC said in a statement. Online advertising revenue was a key measure analysts and investors used to evaluate the company.
The scheme involved fraudulent transactions in which AOL Time Warner effectively funded its own advertising revenue by giving purchasers the money to buy online advertising that they did not want or need, the SEC said.
The SEC settled charges with David Colburn, former head of the company's business affairs unit; Eric Keller, former senior manager in the business affairs unit; James MacGuidwin, former controller; and Jay Rappaport, former senior manager in the business affairs unit. The four neither admitted nor denied they were guilty of the charges.
As part of their settlements, Colburn agreed to pay almost $4 million, Keller almost $1 million, MacGuidwin $2.4 million, and Rappaport almost $750,000, the SEC said.
Colburn and MacGuidwin were also barred from serving as officers or directors of a public company for 10 years and seven years, respectively.
John Michael Kelly, former chief financial officer of AOL Time Warner; Steven Rindner, former senior executive in the business affairs unit; Joseph Ripp, former chief financial officer of the company's AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy, are facing fraud-related charges, the SEC said.
The SEC said it is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil monetary penalties from each of them.
"It was a very significant fraud and another instance that shows the commission ... is going to be diligent protecting investors," said David Frohlich, an assistant director in the SEC's enforcement division.
In 2005, Time Warner agreed to pay $300 million to settle a related SEC case.
Mark Hulkower, an attorney for Rindner, said his client is disappointed the SEC is pursuing a case against him but looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name.
Rappaport's attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, said his client is pleased the matter has been resolved without any restraint on his ability to act as an officer or director of a public company.
David Geneson, an attorney for Ripp, said "we are appalled and dismayed" at the charges. He said Ripp investigated and uncovered the accounting fraud at the AOL division and was not involved in any fraudulent conduct.
An attorney for Kelly did not immediately have a comment about the charges. Attorneys for the other defendants did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Gary Hill and Tim Dobbyn)
Four of the defendants settled with the SEC and the other four are facing fraud-related charges in federal court in New York.
The former executives participated in a scheme from mid-2000 to mid-2002 to artificially inflate the company's reported online advertising revenue, the SEC said in a statement. Online advertising revenue was a key measure analysts and investors used to evaluate the company.
The scheme involved fraudulent transactions in which AOL Time Warner effectively funded its own advertising revenue by giving purchasers the money to buy online advertising that they did not want or need, the SEC said.
The SEC settled charges with David Colburn, former head of the company's business affairs unit; Eric Keller, former senior manager in the business affairs unit; James MacGuidwin, former controller; and Jay Rappaport, former senior manager in the business affairs unit. The four neither admitted nor denied they were guilty of the charges.
As part of their settlements, Colburn agreed to pay almost $4 million, Keller almost $1 million, MacGuidwin $2.4 million, and Rappaport almost $750,000, the SEC said.
Colburn and MacGuidwin were also barred from serving as officers or directors of a public company for 10 years and seven years, respectively.
John Michael Kelly, former chief financial officer of AOL Time Warner; Steven Rindner, former senior executive in the business affairs unit; Joseph Ripp, former chief financial officer of the company's AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy, are facing fraud-related charges, the SEC said.
The SEC said it is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil monetary penalties from each of them.
"It was a very significant fraud and another instance that shows the commission ... is going to be diligent protecting investors," said David Frohlich, an assistant director in the SEC's enforcement division.
In 2005, Time Warner agreed to pay $300 million to settle a related SEC case.
Mark Hulkower, an attorney for Rindner, said his client is disappointed the SEC is pursuing a case against him but looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name.
Rappaport's attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, said his client is pleased the matter has been resolved without any restraint on his ability to act as an officer or director of a public company.
David Geneson, an attorney for Ripp, said "we are appalled and dismayed" at the charges. He said Ripp investigated and uncovered the accounting fraud at the AOL division and was not involved in any fraudulent conduct.
An attorney for Kelly did not immediately have a comment about the charges. Attorneys for the other defendants did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Gary Hill and Tim Dobbyn)
Monday, May 19, 2008
Rs.200 mn Mutual Fund scam unearthed in Chennai Sify.com 17 May 2008
Chennai, May 17: Police are on the lookout for three men who duped hundreds of investors of Rs.200 million through a fake mutual fund scheme here.
Police said Friday that they were looking for three promoters of the now defunct Swiss Mutual Fund, based in a southern suburb, who had floated the scheme on the internet.
The suspects - S. Shamsuddin, K. Venkatesh and R. Murugan - had promised the investors a complete recovery of the investment in 12 monthly instalments and a similar lifelong return.
Meanwhile, in another case, two employees of Quest Net have been arrested following over 8,000 complaints in the last 20 days of multi-level-marketing frauds worth over Rs.300 million.
The principal company in Malaysia, Gold Quest, had however denied any wrongdoing.
Police said Friday that they were looking for three promoters of the now defunct Swiss Mutual Fund, based in a southern suburb, who had floated the scheme on the internet.
The suspects - S. Shamsuddin, K. Venkatesh and R. Murugan - had promised the investors a complete recovery of the investment in 12 monthly instalments and a similar lifelong return.
Meanwhile, in another case, two employees of Quest Net have been arrested following over 8,000 complaints in the last 20 days of multi-level-marketing frauds worth over Rs.300 million.
The principal company in Malaysia, Gold Quest, had however denied any wrongdoing.
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