Latest news with #fraudster
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Bank customer on the hook for fraudulent charges; TikTok blocks #SkinnyTok: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet
Miss something this week? Don't panic. CBC's Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need. Want this in your inbox? Get the Marketplace. The bank insists he's responsible for fraudulent charges on his credit card, yet provides no evidence Bank blames customer for $20K in credit card fraud | Go Public 6 days ago Duration 2:09 Jordon Judge's cellphone rang as he sat in his local Vancouver coffee shop last October, caller ID said the person was from Scotiabank. He had no idea it was actually a fraudster who had manipulated the call display, a practice known as phone call "spoofing." The fraudster said he was calling to flag two suspicious charges that were coming through on Judge's Scotiabank Visa card. Judge said he hadn't approved those charges, and the caller said they would be blocked. But two days later, Judge spotted two large charges on his credit card statement, totalling almost $20,000. "Those were not my charges," he told Go Public. "So it was definitely astonishment." It was the beginning of a long and frustrating process, during which Scotiabank continued to insist he was liable for the fraudulent charges. Credit card fraud is a growing problem. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre doesn't track how much money people lose to it but says that over the past three years, an increasing portion of identity fraud cases have involved compromised credit cards. Go Public asked Scotiabank several times what evidence it had to hold its customer responsible for the fraudulent charges. Although the bank did not reply, it recently credited Judge's bank account, covering one of the outstanding payments. The other payment, made to a U.K. university, was reimbursed by the school. TikTok says it has blocked search results for the hashtag SkinnyTok due to a high volume of content that was promoting disordered eating and unhealthy weight loss behaviours on the social media platform. "We regularly review our safety measures to address evolving risks and have blocked search results for #skinnytok since it has become linked to unhealthy weight loss content," said a statement from TikTok emailed to CBC News Wednesday. "We continue to restrict videos from teen accounts and provide health experts and information in TikTok Search," the statement read. The term SkinnyTok has become widely used to describe an online subculture of influencers and content creators that promote extreme thinness. Now, searches for SkinnyTok will yield no results except for a message that prompts users to check out expert resources. In Canada, viewers will see contact information and links for groups such as the National Eating Disorder Information Centre and Anorexie et boulimie Québec. Read more of the story by CBC's Shaki Sutharsan. Jill Rorabeck says she wishes she'd never turned to Canada's airline regulator to settle her dispute with Swoop Airlines. Not only did the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) side with the airline, Rorabeck can't even share the details of her dispute. The Toronto woman submitted a complaint almost three years ago with the CTA, which acts as an adjudicator between airlines and passengers in air travel complaints. She learned in January that she lost her case, but due to legislation passed in 2023 that prevents passengers from sharing full details of CTA decisions, she's not allowed to reveal key information about what happened. "No one can warn others about their experiences," said Rorabeck. "There is zero accountability on the part of the airlines or the CTA." The Air Passenger Rights organization — a Halifax-based nonprofit — has now filed a constitutional challenge in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, arguing Canadians should have access to the decisions made by the CTA's quasi-judicial tribunal. "We believe that the way the complaint process has been set up at the Canadian Transportation Agency violates fundamental rights," said Air Passenger Rights founder Gábor Lukács. At issue is section 85.09(1) of the Canadian Transportation Act, which says once the CTA issues a decision, neither the airline nor the passenger involved is allowed to openly share the details unless both parties agree. Since that rule was implemented, not a single case has been made fully public, which Lukács says gives airlines the strategic advantage of having access to previous rulings while passengers remain unaware of how complaints are being decided. from CBC Go Public's Erica Johnson and Ana Komnenic. What else is going on? Life got tough and, to my shame, I lost control of my priorities. Marketplace needs your help! Have you visited an emergency department recently and been frustrated by the wait? Do you feel you got the care you needed in a timely manner? We want to hear your stories! marketplace@
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Romance fraudster targeted widow, 81, who was heartbroken by death of her husband and fleeced her out of £27,000
An 81-year-old widower was fleeced out of £27,000 after being targeted by a romance fraudster who took advantage of her loneliness. Doreen Daniel became the victim of the scammer shortly following the death of her husband Gordon, leaving her family devastated. Romance fraud is when scammers pretend to be interested in a relationship with their victim in order to gain their trust before manipulating them into sending money or personal information. Doreen, from Angmering in West Sussex, received messages and calls on WhatsApp from a man claiming to be a financial advisor called Adam, living in Switzerland and Monaco. After building a friendship with her, he convinced the widower to download an app that let him take remote control of her devices and transfer money out of her bank accounts. The fraudster convinced Doreen that the money would be entered into a raffle for a chance to win £100,000. Her family said they did not know that she was being scammed until her bank card was declined while food shopping. After going through accounts, they became aware of huge amounts of money that had been taken out of Doreen's account. The scammer had also archived all of the messages on WhatsApp so her family 'didn't find them for ages'. The family believe she was targeted by the scammer due to the fact she had been recently widowed. Karen Daniel, Doreen's daughter, told the BBC: 'To hit on someone who is that vulnerable when they have just lost their life partner, it makes me feel sick. How can somebody been so cruel to do that?'. They also believe Doreen had been victim of several other scams before the romance fraud including ordering diet pills through dodgy social media links. Another incident saw the family find a man in her house attempting to persuade her to buy water softening product for £4,000. Doreen's granddaughter, Jasmine El Samad, a journalism student, recorded a conversation with her grandmother to gain a better understanding of the scam. In the recording, Doreen admitted that Adam made her feel 'special' and sounded 'very knowledgeable' but added that he wouldn't let her see him on a video call. Believing she was entering a raffle to win the digital currency bitcoin, Doreen said she continued to allow the investments despite thinking something didn't feel right. Jasmine said: 'He'd complimented her appearance, saying things like, "you can't be 80". 'Flattery would have got you anywhere with Nan quite frankly at that point, after Granddad passed away. 'Making her think that she had this friend that was also going to change her life financially - it was the perfect combination of an attack really. Doreen's family were able to get around £18,000 back from the bank but the crime was never reported to the police. The 81-year-old died in November 2023 after suffering two mini strokes which her family believe was brought on by the loss of her husband and the stress caused by the scams. Fraud makes up 40 per cent of all recorded crime in England and Wales, Home Office figures show with Action Fraud saying that in £92m was lost by victims to romance scams in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024, the cases of romance scams reported to Action Fraud have increased by 27 per cent.
Times
20-05-2025
- Times
Duncan Campbell obituary: prominent crime reporter
The first professional criminal Duncan Campbell ever met was a 'charming fraudster' with a degree in economics from Jesus College, Cambridge — or at least so the fraudster told him. Campbell was a 17-year-old schoolboy whose Scottish boarding school for some obscure reason had sent a team of sixth-formers into the nearby Perth prison to debate whether going to the moon would be a good idea. He was instantly more fascinated by the stories of the inmates than by the prospect of a moon landing, which was still seven years away. How had a well-spoken, well-educated man ended up behind bars, and how did he relate to the violent thugs from the Glaswegian gangs who wereserving time alongside him for stabbing and worse? A
South China Morning Post
16-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
‘Give me a chance': Chinese influencer exposed as ex-convict sparks mixed reactions online
An online influencer who shares videos of himself raising a cow in a rural area in southwestern China has been revealed to be a convicted fraudster. The revelation has triggered a heated discussion among internet users. The man, surnamed Luo, was sentenced to 10 months for fraud in 2015 for manufacturing fake methamphetamine and selling it to drug addicts, according to the Yangtze Evening Post. On a leading social media platform where he has 210,000 followers, Luo has posted 300 videos of his countryside life in Dayi county, Sichuan province, most of which are about his interactions with a calf. Luo named the one-year-old calf Niuniu, a common nickname for a little girl, while calling himself Niuniu's Dad. Luo's online videos about raising cattle have attracted tens of thousands of followers to his social media account. Photo: Baidu 'I will not slaughter, sell, or beat my Niuniu. I will accompany her for life,' Luo said on his account.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- CTV News
More than $50K defrauded from Guelph bank
Banks and credit unions advise customers change their PIN every three months. Guelph Police say a fraud scheme targeting a bank in the city has resulted in a $57,000 loss. Cheques, supposedly for a business account, were deposited in the unnamed bank's night deposit box on May 5. Two days later, $57,000 from the account was used to make a purchase. The cheques were later determined to be fake, which led to the bank freezing the account. After a woman tried to withdraw money from the account on Wednesday, police arrested her. A 32-year-old Guelph woman was charged with fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
