A May 15 article in leParisien.com reported on an extensive fraud scheme targeting the Val-de-Marne department of the Île-de-France region. According to leParisien, the scheme combines the use of fraudulent delivery notices left in people's mailboxes, and premium-rate telephone numbers. The notices, which purport to be from Chronodex, are addressed to recipients by name, informing them that a package is available for pickup. The notice also bear a date and hour of delivery, like those included in postal service notices. To obtain the purported package, the person is informed that he or she must call a number listed on the notice, specifying that the rate per call is €1.34. When the caller places the call to that number, however, a voicemail at that number makes the person wait -- unknowingly, running up the cost of the call at a premium rate of €0.34 per minute. Eventually, the voicemail informs the caller that a technical error "prevents us from responding to your request." The caller must then place another call, thereby starting the premium-rate process again.
While Val-de-Marne was originally targeted, the article also indicated that victims are reporting the same scam from southeastern and eastern suburbs of Paris, such as Maisons-Alfort, Joinville-le-Pont, La Queue-en-Brie, Le Plessis-Trévise, and Saint-Maurice. In addition, the scam appears to have reached the Paris region, including other departments in the Île-de-France region such as Seine-et-Marne and Les Hauts-de-Seine. Some victims have reported the scam to their local police station, and the file on the scam has been transmitted to the Val-de-Marne police.
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Thursday, May 24, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
IC3 Issues 2011 Annual Report
Today, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued its Annual Report for 2011. Highlights of the Report include:
- For the third year in a row, the IC3 received more than 300,000 complaints. In fact, its 314,246 complaints for 2011 constituted the second-highest annual total since the IC3's creation in 2000.
- Of those who filed complaints in 2011, 51.76 percent were male and 48.24 percent were female. The age distribution of complaints was <20: 3.2 percent; 20-39: 40 percent; 40-59: 43 percent; and 60+: 14 percent.
- The top five reported crime types reported in 2011 were (1) FBI-related scams: 35,764 complaints; (2) identity theft: 28,915; (3) advance fee fraud: 27,892; (4) non-auction non-delivery of merchandise: 22,404; and (5) overpayment fraud (i.e., schemes in which the criminal persuades the victims to deposit a check for more than the amount owed, and the victims later discover that the checks are counterfeit): 18,511.
- The top five fraud types reported in 2011 were (1) work-from-home scams: 17,352; (2) FBI impersonation scams: 14,350; (3) loan intimidation scams: 9,968; (4) auto auction fraud: 4,066; and (5) romance scams: 5,663.
- For the third year in a row, the IC3 received more than 300,000 complaints. In fact, its 314,246 complaints for 2011 constituted the second-highest annual total since the IC3's creation in 2000.
- Of those who filed complaints in 2011, 51.76 percent were male and 48.24 percent were female. The age distribution of complaints was <20: 3.2 percent; 20-39: 40 percent; 40-59: 43 percent; and 60+: 14 percent.
- The top five reported crime types reported in 2011 were (1) FBI-related scams: 35,764 complaints; (2) identity theft: 28,915; (3) advance fee fraud: 27,892; (4) non-auction non-delivery of merchandise: 22,404; and (5) overpayment fraud (i.e., schemes in which the criminal persuades the victims to deposit a check for more than the amount owed, and the victims later discover that the checks are counterfeit): 18,511.
- The top five fraud types reported in 2011 were (1) work-from-home scams: 17,352; (2) FBI impersonation scams: 14,350; (3) loan intimidation scams: 9,968; (4) auto auction fraud: 4,066; and (5) romance scams: 5,663.
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