Fraud News from the Web
Tracy Coenen has a nice story about how Barry Minkow helped uncover a ponzi scheme. She writes;
Score another successful fraud discovery for Barry Minkow
The preacher-man has done it again. Another scam - BUSTED.
Ed Dickson has a very nice piece on identity theft and romance. Postal Money Order Romance Scam: "Wilson James Baston Jr. of Manhattan was arrested last week on charges related to bilking elderly people out of $16 million. And it all began with a report authored by Barry Minkow
The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan alleges that Baston was operating a Ponzi scheme, promising victims investment returns up to 30%. He supposedly achieved those results by purchasing and rehabbing distressed real estate on Long Island and in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
The few victims who received any money back from Baston got their money from later investors in Baston's scheme. According to the newspaper:
Helping to unravel the alleged scheme was 'particularly satisfying,' Minkow said, because many of the victims were elderly and mortgaged their own homes.
"Altered Money Orders have been around for a long time. Before new technology made counterfeiting money orders pretty easy, it was a common method of committing fraud. Criminals buy a large number of them for a small amount, normally $1.00. The $1. 00 money orders are then altered, using chemicals, and a much higher dollar amount is put on them. Because financial institutions are fairly aware of this activity AND the 'getting caught' factor is a risk, they find creative ways to get a less knowledgeable person to take the risks and send them the rewards. These 'less knowledgeable' people frequently suffer the consequences, or take the RAP for them, also. While altered money orders (not just the Postal variety) have been around for quite some time, convicts seem to have a new way of getting them cashed. They place ads in the personal section seeking pen pals. Once they have gained the confidence of the person, they trick them into cashing the altered instruments and sending the money back to them."Finally, the Consumerist has some ideas about how to spot an fake job advertisement , which is really a pitch for a MLM scheme.
Ds-max: 4 Typical DS-MAX MLM Scam Job Ads Found On Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder And Jobster : "
Using the names of companies accused of being DS-Max (now known as Innovage) subsidiaries/affiliates on Ripoffreport and a list on DS-Max The Aftermath
I did a search of Monster, Hot Jobs, and other job sites to pick out real ads that are out there and should be avoided.In order to make sure I was on the right track, I compared their contents examples from ex-employees, also on Aftermath and Ripoffreport , and to the Midtown Promotions ad that started this whole investigation...
