Baited and Hooked: Advice for Email Fraud Victims By:  Dorothy Riggs, CFE What do I do now? After realizing they’ve been hooked, email fraud victims often wonder, what do I do now? Here are some practical suggestions:

Don’t Get Hooked By a Crook By: Dorothy Riggs, CFE Email Hacks Criminals are savvier than ever.  Using unauthorized access to an acquaintance’s email account, they bait their crooked hooks with phony email in hopes of deceiving you into sending money to their accounts. Email Spoofing Another method fraudsters use to lure you into the murky waters of fraud is email spoofing, which is basically forging the sender’s email address. If the email appears to have been sent by someone you know the phisherman knows that you’re more likely to open the fraudulent email and comply with its instructions. Family and Friend Impersonations Several victims have reported receiving email from a friend or family member who was on vacation and due to a very detailed emergency situation, they needed the wide-eyed and concerned target to send loot right away.  Details of the emergency vary. Common phish tales have included:   I was attacked by a robber and r...

Bible scripture Malachi 3:8 asks, “Will a man rob God?” The answer is a resounding, YES.  Throughout my lifetime I’ve heard many ministers deliver sermons using Malachi 3:8 as the text for their messages.   However, their sermons all referenced robbing God by means of not paying tithes and offerings.   However, in this day and age neglecting to pay tithes and offerings aren’t the only methods of robbery occurring in houses of God. From a fraud examiner’s point of view another real issue is protecting donations from internal and external thieves. Internal Fraud Cases One would hope that houses of worship would be the last places criminals would defraud.   Unfortunately, that hope would be dashed. The same types of fraud that affect secular entities are also present in religious organizations. Worship centers are affected by fraud schemes more often that we know and in many instances are committed by those least expected, trusted members a...

Eater.com Photo  If you used your debit or credit card at a Wendy's restaurant from the fall of 2015 through June 2016 your card data may have been obtained by fraudsters. On July 7, 2016 reports surfaced that as many as 1,025 Wendy's locations were affected by a data  breach. Click on the links below to get more information from Wendy's regarding your questions and concerns. Wendy's company updates Wendy's card breach If you used your card at one of the affected Wendy's locations you should respond as follows: Review your account activity for unauthorized card transactions.  If unauthorized card transactions are detected, contact your bank or card provider immediately to report the activity and inquire about filing a dispute.

The massive number of individuals feeling social deprivation, the ease of technological communication and the criminal expertise of savvy fraudsters all set the global stage for a whole lot of hanky-panky. The particular details of romance confidence schemes evolve every year and have little to nothing to do with true romance. Click on the link below to read an article I wrote about romance scams.  It was published as an Online Exclusive by Fraud Magazine.   Fraud Magazine Online Exclusive: A Whole Lot of Hanky-Panky Going On                    The article was also featured on the following site.  Click the link to read the article.                     Fraud Journal: Romance Fraud - A Whole Lot of Hanky-Panky Going On