New Site Alerts Public to Latest Social Media Scams

In 2012, identity thieves plundered over $20 billion from 12 million in the United States alone.  According to a study from Javelin Strategy, this was a rise of over a million victims from 2011.

One of the most common frauds is called the "419" scam.  Most have seen some variation on this trick.  An individual claims to need help in transferring a large amount of money from Nigeria to the United States.  For some reason, they usually need the help of an elderly American with limited funds.  All the victim is told to do is to wire money to Nigeria until they either run out or conclude they have been scammed.

Scam Alert Central has been publicizing the latest twist on the 419 scam.  In previous years, the victim was told that they were dealing with some member of the non existent Nigerian royal family.  Now they have started stealing pictures of attractive young women, sometimes even adult film stars, to add to the pitch.  They pose as refugees, potential girlfriends, or even escorts who claim they need to be paid through a "booking agent" in the Philippines.  Although some claim to be in Nigeria, others identify any number of countries as a point of origin.

Scam Alert Central updates regularly on the names and backstories of the women featured on the pitches.

It is important to know that the pictures have been stolen from social media.  The women pictured are almost never in on the scam.

This is the latest version of an old fraud scheme. The FBI has identified a large number of schemes, listed and described here.  It is a good idea to occasionally reread the most current information on scams as the criminals update their tactics to get your money.

Abuse of Information Database Is Too Commonplace

Last week, the nation was jarred by the news that a couple searched "backpack" and "pressure cooker," then found armed police at their door soon thereafter.  While it turned out that their internet provider actually turned in the tip, other NSA scandals have enraged and frightened many.

Defenders of information collection argue that what is collected rarely gets used.  And then, only by professionals with good reason to use it.  Unfortunately, people being who they are, abuse can always happen.

The Washington Guardian recently reported that New York City Police Department detectives have routinely abused the privilege of accessing the FBI's National Crime Information Center database.  While only authorized to use it during car stops and investigations, some officers have used it to snoop on fellow officers and even tip off criminals.  Some of the most egregious cases involve officers identifying drug criminals so that they can rob them.

Safeguards exist, but experts claim that abusers can easily circumvent them. 

This adds to worries that the National Security Agency has distributed information to agencies that investigate domestic crime and not national security.  Reuters reports that the NSA sent information to the Drug Enforcement Agency's Special Operations Division.  Although the information shared cannot be used because of Constitutional restrictions, DEA investigators are trained to backtrack and build a conventional looking investigation that does not use illegal data.

Many fear that high level politicians will always face temptations to misuse information at their disposal. The administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama all misused IRS information.  Eliot Spitzer, while governor of New York, misused police documents to smear a Republican opponent. 

Information gained for law enforcement and/or national security purposes can help to protect the nation, lives, and property.  Living without it means accepting complete vulnerability.  But like any other extension of government power, the intelligence and law enforcement fields need to have strong boundaries and competent oversight.  Rule of law and natural rights principles demand no less.

Banks Seek Technological Solutions to Reduce the Hundreds of Billions Lost to Fraud

Last February, the FBI busted a 13 person conspiracy that planned to bilk over $200 million from credit card companies.  It included a network of complicit businesses that would access the money and wire it to one of several Asian or Eastern European countries.

Today, US investigators announced the arrest of four Russians and a Ukranian.  They had hacked databases to retrieve information on over 160 million credit card numbers.  The indictment, according to Russia Today, said that “Financial institutions, credit card companies and consumers suffered hundreds of millions in losses, including losses in excess of $300 million by just three of the corporate victims, and immeasurable losses to identity theft victims."

Mexico and the United States experience the highest rates of credit card fraud, according to a Forbes report last fall.   In both nations, over 40 percent of card holders describe having experiencing some type of credit card fraud.  Debit card fraud is more difficult, but the two aforementioned countries are near the top of that list as well.  One out of four or more debit card holders in both countries have been defrauded in some way.

Help may be on the way.

This year, US credit and debit issuing companies will start issuing EMV standard cards.  This stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa.  These cards will start including an extra layer of security in the form of ID chips. 

The process will take years, however, because of the need to update card readers and ATMs.

Banks lose $190 billion per year to fraud, according to another Forbes report.  Industry observers hope that EMV, among other measures, will roll back the heavy losses. 

Until then, organized criminals with technical prowess will continue to plunder banks and consumers alike.

Gangs Are Associations of Weakness

Initial reports of the arrest of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez included hints of a dark shadow life.  Certain tattoos on his body may or may not advertise gang affiliations.  The 23 year old Hernandez denies them.  Gang unit investigators have yet to confirm it one way or the other.

If true, it brings a new angle to the disturbing world of gangs.  They are supposed to be creatures of poverty.  Those who do make money in them do so as criminals, making it hard to jump to a legitimate lifestyle.  Even rappers feel the need to maintain some connection "to the streets" to keep up their "street cred", whatever that is worth to those gunned down as a consequence.

Hernandez, again, if he does have affiliations, would be a young man, educated in a highly respected university, who made his money completely free of the gang life.  Yet he still may have found living in that style preferable to finding new friends, new hangouts, and a responsible path forward.

Gang violence increased over a recent  ten year period, but decreased slightly between 2008 and 2010, according to the FBI. 

Cultural perceptions of gangs, from Italian organized crime "families" to the street variety, range from portraying them as scum of the earth to representatives of tarnished virtue.  Almost nowhere, however, does one see the people involved as inherently weak.

It's hard to blame some kids for getting involved.  Living in dangerous neighborhoods, some kids might seek out a gang to make them feel secure.  If it cannot protect them at all times, it can at least avenge any insult or assault.  But joining for that reason is a decision borne of weakness, even if one cannot blame the kid for being vulnerable in the first place. 

Most gang violence occurs when a large group from gang A finds a smaller group or an individual of a rival gang and attacks.  Sneak, or surprise attacks are common.  The tactic is to stack the odds to reduce the possibility of harm to the attackers.  These reflect modes of fighting common in guerrilla warfare, especially when the number of proven and capable fighters is limited.  Stonewall Jackson, with his usually smaller army, preferred to bring his entire force to bear on an isolated extension of his opponents' lines. 

But these tactics are a reflection of weakness, regardless of the violent results.

Criminal enterprises also confess a lack of strength.  Gangs gain revenues by combining entrepreneurial skill with enough force to create a limited geographical monopoly.

Again, this is weakness.  They fear the risk and reward process of the truly competitive free market.  Being a criminal, rather than a businessman, enables one to bring force to bear.  Being a better businessman is hard.  Killing your competition or threatening their families is relatively easier. 

But it is still, from a business standpoint, a tactic of weakness, a confession that the individual could not "hack it" in the "real world."

Purveyors of popular culture could strike a blow against violence by making sure that movies about gangs and their lifestyle teach that those involved are essentially weak individuals.  Martin Scorcese's Good Fellas portrayed gangsters as anything but good, which gives it a positive message.  How many other films (or for that matter, Bio channel documentaries) about the Mafia or street gangs even include that element? 

If guilty of his crimes, Aaron Hernandez was a thoroughly weak individual regardless of whether or not he was in a gang.  What insult to his soul was worth one or more lives?  What good did it do him to commit one of the most stupidly executed murders in some time?  Despite his physical strength and his football field prowess, Aaron Hernandez was likely a very weak man. 

Just the kind of person perfect for a gang.

Mexican Standoff?

One of the last warnings of the Bush presidency told us about the dire situation south of the border.

According to a recent national security statement, Mexico's government is in danger of collapse. The drug cartels have sucked at the Mexican body politic like massive parasites. In nature, parasites usually take enough to live, but do not threaten the host. In the case of Mexico, corruption, assassination, the undermining of democratic government have all sapped the ability of the state to function.

Prime evidence of Mexico's possible collapse has come in the form of private militia groups rising to defend the people in cities such as Ciudad Juarez. A government has two basic functions, protect innocent life and protect property. Mexico's government has lost the capability to do either.

They need help. In some form, American intelligence must step in. National security means that we must address problems before they become a threat. Mexican collapse constitutes a threat to our national security. Do we want twenty-first century Pancho Villas attacking US cities, provoking armed responses?

The FBI has experience infiltrating and destroying dangerous organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and various Mafia groups. If we are to lend a hand to protect Mexican authority, much less democracy, this is not the time to take rough measures off of the table. Mexican drug gangs are among the most ruthless criminal groups on earth. It is time to target and eliminate them.