fraud

Sometimes our greed is merely a reflection of our true selves.

Sometimes we really do believe we will get something for nothing -- or at least very little.

Take Jalonta Freeman of Arlington, Texas. She was at a gas station. Suddenly a man drove up to her and offered her an $800 iPad for a mere $200.

Wouldn't you have been slightly suspicious? Wouldn't you have at least opened the box to check whether there was, well, an iPad inside?

Freeman took the deal.

"He was, like, OK, I gotta hurry up and go and stuff," … Read more

The feds have arrested and charged Paul Ceglia, the man who claims he owns half of Facebook, with mail and wire fraud for allegedly doctoring a contract and creating fake emails in an attempt to cheat Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg out of billions of dollars, a U.S. district attorney revealed today.

He faces up to 40 years in prison for the two charges, which relate to Ceglia using the U.S. Postal Service and email to transmit the materials, according to the complaint (see below).

Federal agents arrested Ceglia at his home in Wellsville, N.Y., this morning … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- McDonalds to open first vegetarian restaurant.

- Hoax alert: Bruce Willis fights for the right to bequeath his iTunes library.

- How classic games got their names (hat tip to Corey).

- Is this new Prince Harry game using Jeff's likeness?

You have to be careful which band you book for your wedding. Your choice carries with it a message.

If you book the Libertines, your wife may look at you askance. If you tell her it's the Porcupine Tree, well, please imagine her face.

So one wonders whether sufficient thought went into Amazon Senior Vice President Brian Valentine's choice of Tom Petty. When your Valentine brings you something Petty, trouble may ensue.

In this case, it apparently did -- but from an unexpected source.

I hear down the Geekwire that Valentine thought he could book Petty online. Amazon'… Read more

A global financial fraud scheme that uses an active and passive automated transfer system to siphon money from high balance accounts in financial institutions has been discovered by McAfee and Guardian Analytics.

According to a joint report released overnight, the online fraud, dubbed "Operation High Roller," attacks banking systems worldwide and has impacted thousands of financial institutions including credit unions, large global banks and regional banks. The criminals have attempted to transfer between 60 million euros (US$75.1 million) and 2 billion euros (US$2.5 billion) to mule business accounts belonging to the "organized crime&… Read more

Sprint Nextel today filed a request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it had stiffed New York out of $100 million in taxes.

Sprint filed its request to a New York state court, arguing that its practices don't violate New York law.

In April, New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman filed his lawsuit against Sprint. He sought a penalty of $300 million for the company's alleged failure to pay taxes.

Sprint at the time denied the allegations. The company declined to comment beyond the filing today.

The company, however, noted in its filing that New York was attempting to … Read more

Tough economic times are a boon to the crooks who prowl the Internet looking for their next victims. They know how eager (desperate?) so many of us have become in our quest to remain solvent.

It seems not a day passes without the appearance of some new Internet scam. Unfortunately, many of the ruses people fall victim to are older than the Internet itself.

Wiring money and Internet purchases don't mix Take, for example, the bogus cashier's check. In last week's Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, Cathy Bussewitz wrote about Bart Edson's disastrous attempt to sell an antique … Read more

Sprint Nextel: tax dodger?

That's according to New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman, who filed a lawsuit against Sprint for allegedly failing to collect and pay sales tax to the state. Schniederman claimed Sprint missed out on $100 million in taxes and he's seeking $300 million in penalty.

It's a blow to Sprint as the carrier looks to get back on its feet financially. The company continues to lose money and is undertaking several costly projects, including the massive upgrade of its wireless network, as well as the hefty subsidies paid to Apple to carry the iPhone. … Read more

It can't be that easy to call up a bank and pretend to be someone famous. Or can it?

Perhaps it can, if allegations leveled against 28-year-old Brandon Price are proven to be true. For he stands accused of persuading a Citibank customer service representative that he had, indeed, co-founded Microsoft and was now changing his address from Seattle to Pennsylvania.

The way the Associated Press identifies the story, Price allegedly managed to have a debit card sent to a Pittsburgh address. His intention was allegedly to pay loans that were past due, as well as other expenses.

Indeed, … Read more