Goodizen :: Scams

SAN DIEGO — Two hoax letters about the shutting down of beach-area pharmacies were emailed to the news media Tuesday morning purporting to be from U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. "This office did not issue those press releases," Duffy said at an 11 a.m. news conference. "We are looking into the source of the emails." The first hoax release was sent at 7:05 a.m., claiming that legal proceedings, including criminal charges and forfeiture, would be brought against targeted pharmacies in La Jolla, Carmel Valley and Pacific Beach due to the high rates of pharmaceutical drug abuse. It further said the businesses had to shut down in 45 days. A second hoax email was sent at 8:52 a.m. saying the first one was a fake and a "feeble attempt" to defame Duffy's character. About an hour later Duffy's office sent out an email saying both letters were fake. "It's concerning that these kinds of notices could go out," Duffy said. She said sh...

Early on Sunday, columnists Nick Bilton and Bill Keller of The New York Times both reposted Twitter links to an essay by Keller on the subject of WikiLeaks. There was just one problem: The linked essay wasn't actually Keller's, but an elaborate hoax designed to discredit both him and the newspaper. WikiLeaks itself has since taken credit for the prank on its own Twitter feed, saying, "Yes. We admit it. WikiLeaks (Assange & co) and our great supporters where [sic] behind the successful NYTimes banking blockade hoax on @nytkeller." The pranksters published the essay to the URL "www.opinion-nytimes.com" using a web layout identical to that of the newspaper's opinion pages, then promoted it using a Twitter account disguised to look like Keller's. Where Keller's actual account is @nytkeller, the fake account replaced one of the lowercase Ls with an uppercase I, a change that's almost invisible when rendered in sans-ser...

The feuding between online whistleblower website WikiLeaks and its former media partner The New York Times appeared to rear its head again over the weekend when WikiLeaks put out a hoax involving the NYT 's boss, Bill Keller, and a fake blog post decrying the Obama administration's financial blockades targeting WikiLeaks. While WikiLeaks partnered with a number of mainstream media houses globally — including NYT — to publish what were described as confidential State Department cables, the whistleblower subsequently fell out dramatically with the NYT and others such as the United Kingdom's The Guardian . On Sunday, however, Wikileaks put out a tweet admitting that a fake opinion blog entry purportedly authored by Mr. Keller — a columnist and former Executive Editor of the NYT — was in fact written by the supporters of WikiLeaks. "Yes. We admit it. WikiLeaks [Assange & co] and our great supporters where [sic] behind the successful NYTimes banking blo...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stepping up their game against health care fraud , the Obama administration and major insurers announced Thursday they will share raw data and investigative know-how on a scale not previously seen to try to shut off billions of dollars in questionable payments. At a White House event with insurance executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the new public-private partnership will allow government programs and the insurance industry to take the high ground against scam artists constantly poking the system for weaknesses. "Lots of the fraudsters have used our fragmented health care system to their advantage," Sebelius told reporters. "By sharing information across payers, we can bring this potentially fraudulent activity to light so it can be stopped." State investigators are also part of the effort. Fraud is an endemic problem plaguing giant government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and a headache als...

Many parents are scared of giving their little one his or her first smartphone. What if he uses it to look up porn? What if she falls for an Internet scam? You can't always watch what your child does on his first Android device, but Net Nanny can. For $ 19.99 per year for a single device, and $ 9.99 per year for additional devices, Net Nanny 2.0 for Android is a powerful "safe" browser that filters offensive content from your child's device, and goes beyond what most of its Android app competitors offer. With this app installed, your young one will have a fairly tough time looking at anything you don't want him to—on the install device, at least. GET MORE ANDROID APP COVERAGE: 100 Best Android Apps 40 Best Free Android Apps 10 Must-Have Android Apps Android Apps Product Guide Net Nanny offers does not yet offer support for Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (Free, 4.5 stars), but a product manager said to expect one next week. I tested Net Nanny on ...

WENN First he had to deal with girlfriend Kristen Stewart cheating on him with her married 'Snow White And The Huntsman' director, now Twitter has unceremoniously killed him off. Yep, Robert Pattinson is the latest celebrity to fall victim to a cruel and completely inappropriate death hoax online. The Twitter age has bought with it an endless conveyor-belt of untrue trending topics saying "RIP" followed by the name of a celebrity. Once the rumour begins to trend, it is able to stay trending because people who are disgusted by it continue to talk about it. It's a vicious circle, and we one we hope will (pardon the pun) die out over time. Gossip Cop reports that R-Pattz's hoax stems back to Global Associated News in two separate blasts - one stating he had died in a car crash, the other saying he was involved in a fatal snowboarding accident. Both are, obviously, completely baseless. PHOTOS: R-Pattz & K-Stew try to avoid paparazzi Katy P...

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– If it's a joke, it's a potentially dangerous one. The Coast Guard station in Baltimore has received six phony distress calls for a boat in trouble. Alex DeMetrick reports, that kind of hoax could put a real call for help in jeopardy. Boats out of the Coast Guard station in Baltimore answer radio distress calls all the time. But earlier this summer, six of those calls were phony. "It comes over VHF Channel 16 and the caller says, 'Mayday, mayday!' And all six calls have been determined to be the same male voice. And all of these calls have been determined to come from the Middle River area of Baltimore," Lt. Rick Armstrong of the United States Coast Guard said. And the Coast Guard responded dispatching boats and helicopters on wild goose chases that have cost $ 70,000. Because second guessing there isn't an emergency, isn't an option. "The one time we don't take it seriously, that will be the one time it's an ...

The scam letter (being mailed out of Canada) begins, "Dear Counsel, I was referred to you by the Oklahoma State's Bar Referral Services. We require a good Business Litigation Attorney for our matter, please advice (sic). We await your response." - Geoffrey Hugh O'Donnell, Director, Rollco Pty Limited, Revesby, Australia." "Basically, this began with an email inquiry from somebody, ostensibly in Canada, saying, 'I have this outstanding note that is due and the guy's name is such-and-such and he lives in Tulsa (name and address verified online) and we want to engage you to collect it,' " Finlayson said. "I said, 'Fine but we do not transfer funds until our retainer fund is collected in our account. If it's paid by cashier's check the amount has to be collected through banking channels. Wire transfers are preferred.' " The U.S. Secret Service criminal investigations website warns of wire transfer fraud tulsaworld...

A Tasmanian man who made hoax mayday calls has been ordered to pay the Australian Maritime Safety Authority $ 30,000 for sparking a major air and sea search. In April last year, Damien John Goodluck made two hoax calls on marine radio indicating a fisherman was in trouble off Bruny Island. The Magistrate's Court heard the 30-year-old was under stress at the time, suffering from the breakdown of his relationship with his mother and the loss of his father. The court also heard that he suffered from limited intellectual capabilities. Magistrate Olivia McTaggart ordered Goodluck to do 140 hours of community service and set a good behaviour period of 18 months. Randolph Wierenga from the Police Association of Tasmania says the sentence should serve as a deterrent. "You're talking about police officers, you're talking about significant physical resources to go out and respond to calls like this and they have to be treated seriously and when people needlessly...

By Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun 10:31 p.m. EDT , July 25, 2012 The U.S. Coast Guard asked for the public's help Wednesday identifying a "hoax caller" who made six fake distress calls between May 1 and June 1. Each time, a male voice originating out of the Middle River area of Baltimore County has called out, "mayday, mayday," and each time Coast Guard personnel have found no evidence of people in distress. All the calls came over a specific VHF-FM radio channel, the Coast Guard said. The calls have led the Coast Guard to conduct four broad searches for the allegedly distressed caller, involving air and boat crews, that have cost $ 70,000, the Coast Guard said. Download The Baltimore Sun's new iPhone app. Aside from the monetary losses suffered by the Coast Guard, the fake calls have also caused "significant operational impact" on the Coast Guard's ability to respond to real emergencies during its searches for t...

A Tasmanian man who made hoax mayday calls has been ordered to pay the Australian Maritime Safety Authority $ 30,000 for sparking a major air and sea search. In April last year, Damien John Goodluck made two hoax calls on marine radio indicating a fisherman was in trouble off Bruny Island. The Magistrate's Court heard the 30-year-old was under stress at the time, suffering from the breakdown of his relationship with his mother and the loss of his father. The court also heard that he suffered from limited intellectual capabilities. Magistrate Olivia McTaggart ordered Goodluck to do 140 hours of community service and set a good behaviour period of 18 months. Randolph Wierenga from the Police Association of Tasmania says the sentence should serve as a deterrent. "You're talking about police officers, you're talking about significant physical resources to go out and respond to calls like this and they have to be treated seriously and when people needlessly...

LAST week the Australian Crime Commission released its report into investment scams. More than 2,600 Australians may have lost more than $ 113 million to serious and organised investment fraud in the last five years. In the report it was highlighted that targets of this type of crime are primarily Australian men, aged over fifty. They are usually highly educated, and have high levels of financial literacy. They are likely to manage their own super it was stated. The report goes on to to say "The criminal syndicate cold calls the investor, refers them to a flash website and sends them a brochure promising strong investment returns. After taking their money they string them along for months or even years and then the money disappears." It can often be hard to tell a good investment from a bad one. Promoters can come with convincing sales pitches, and it can be difficult to tell if you're getting sound financial advice. It seems those old fashion sayin...

Hackers have posted the email addresses and passwords of more than eight million Gamigo users online -- meaning anyone who commonly reuses the same password could face a serious breach of security. The leak was detected by data security service PwnedList, which alerts people if their information has been compromised. Site founder Steve Thomas told Forbes that the incident was a tremendous concern. "It's the largest leak I've ever actually seen," Thomas told the site. "When this breach originally happened, the data wasn't released, so it wasn't a big concern. Now eight million email addresses and passwords have been online, live data for any hacker to see." 'Hackers ... are using the data for identity theft, theft of money through online banking and access to a person's credit card.' - Ron Gula, CEO and CTO of Tenable Network Security While 8.24 million user names and passwords represents a tremendous compromise of Ga...

A Tasmanian man who made hoax mayday calls has been ordered to pay the Australian Maritime Safety Authority $ 30,000 for sparking a major air and sea search. In April last year, Damien John Goodluck made two hoax calls on marine radio indicating a fisherman was in trouble off Bruny Island. The Magistrate's Court heard the 30-year-old was under stress at the time, suffering from the breakdown of his relationship with his mother and the loss of his father. The court also heard that he suffered from limited intellectual capabilities. Magistrate Olivia McTaggart ordered Goodluck to do 140 hours of community service and set a good behaviour period of 18 months. Read More @ Source Red Alert: Help Stop False Flag Terror www.infowars.com Alex Jones calls in to warn about the potential for another false flag attack, urging listeners to activate, call the White House and try to stop the attack. Counter-terrorism expert Dr. Steve...

Police want to assure anyone who has received a death threat via text or email that the message is a hoax and should be ignored. Police received numerous calls about the message after it had been sent to hundreds of people throughout the country. The hoax reads: "Sum1 paid me to kill you. Get spared, 48hrs to pay $ 5000. If you inform the police or anybody, death is promised. E-mail me now: killerking24@yahoo.com." WA Police said there was no need for anyone receiving this message to be alarmed or to contact police. They advised anyone who receives the message to delete it and not pay any money. Further information about scams can be found on the Scamnet web page at www.scamnet.wa.gov.au/scamnet/Home.htm Read More @ Source Michael Jackson - MTV Best Performance Ever This is the Best Performance on MTV of Michael..... Enjoy... Long Live for the King Of Pop!! I Think Hes Alive ;) Video Rating: 4 / 5 Fraudulen...

22 July 2012 Last updated at 08:59 ET Army bomb experts are at the scene of a security alert in Belfast city centre. A security alert which caused disruption in Belfast city centre has been declared a hoax. A controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious device in College Square North. Army bomb experts had attended the alert. College Square North and College Avenue were closed to pedestrians and traffic and have now reopened. Read More @ Source Fraudulent Stories Here

The Ministry of Health is auditing a number of dentists after an Auckland dental surgeon was caught allegedly doctoring medical notes to rip off the taxpayer. Sanjay Govind Sathe, 59, appeared in the Manukau District Court last week, facing 19 charges of dishonest use of a document and 30 charges of false accounting after four years of alleged offending involving $ 168,030. It is alleged he claimed taxpayer money for after-hours emergency treatment of children and teenagers - including tooth extraction - which never took place, the New Zealand Herald reports. He had been contracted by Counties Manukau District Health Board to provide the treatment for under-18s, as part of a free scheme involving 734 dental providers, who treated about 188,000 adolescents last year at a cost of $ 42 million to the taxpayer. Sathe allegedly submitted hundreds of emergency consultation claims each year from 2007 to 2011 for working after 5pm - the most claims of any dentist in the country. ...

Jul 20 2012 HOAX callers who try to disrupt Olympic events in Scotland with a bomb scare could face up to seven years in jail, prosecutors have warned. A "tough prosecution stance" will be taken against anyone making hoax bomb or fire calls during the Games, according to Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland. "The eyes of the world are on Great Britain and Scotland will be a showcase for football competitions in Glasgow," he said. "Through our action I hope the prosecution service will help to deliver a safe and enjoyable Olympic Games." The Crown Office said those who make hoax calls at any time put the lives of others at risk by diverting emergency services from genuine incidents. They also waste public resources, can create fear and cause disruption. Prosecutors fear the disruption could be more acute during public events such as the forthcoming Olympics football matches in Glasgow. Hoax callers could face up to three months' imprison...

DETROIT, July 20 (UPI) -- Detroit police are investigating four hoax bomb threats made within a week on Comerica Park, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge. Police officials said Thursday a hoax bomb threat for the Ambassador Bridge Wednesday was the fourth of its kind within the week, the Detroit Free Press reported. Counterfeit threats were made for Comerica Park Tuesday, the Ambassador Bridge again Monday and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel July 12. The July 12 and Monday threats forced police to shut down the tunnel and bridge for several hours each day and bring in bomb-sniffing dogs and bomb squads. The threat on Comerica Park was made an hour into a Detroit Tigers game, but fans and media were not made aware of the threat until the game ended. Traffic was not disrupted in the investigation of the most recent Ambassador Bridge threat. Police did not say whether one person or copycats made the hoax threats. "This is an on-going investigation and ther...

20 July 2012 Last updated at 07:37 ET Frank Mulholland warned that hoax callers could be jailed Scotland's top law officer has warned that people making hoax calls aimed at disrupting Olympic events north of the border could face imprisonment. Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland said a "tough prosecution stance" was being adopted to "act as a deterrent" and help make the Scots events a success. He said hoax callers could face up to three months imprisonment for fire related offences. Anyone convicted of bomb hoax offences could face up to seven years in jail. Glasgow plays host to a number of Olympic football games. The first matches will take place next Wednesday and Thursday at Scotland's national stadium at Hampden in the south of the city. Mr Mulholland said: "The eyes of the world are on Great Britain and Scotland will be a showcase for football competitions in Glasgow. "Through our action I hope the prosecution service wi...

Samsung Galaxy Tab isn't a direct rip-off of Apple's iPad, according to U.K. Judge Colin Birss, which is certainly good news for Samsung. Although Apple insisted the designs were similar to an uncanny degree, the High Court felt otherwise, though Birss did state that the iPad was "cooler" than its competitor. Depending on your outlook, both manufacturers walked away a winner. Unfortunately for Apple, the problems don't necessarily end with the ruling. In order to make good for publicly declaring the Galaxy Tab to be a blatant rip-off of the iPad, the company will be forced to place a series of ads which state Samsung did nothing wrote when they designed their tablet. In addition to posting the information on a website for six months, Apple must also place ads in two U.K. magazines and three U.K. newspapers. According to Bloomberg, Apple fully intends to appeal the decision. However, until that happens, they'll have to comply with the court's orders...

DETROIT - As they watched a Detroit Tigers baseball game, 40,000 sports fans were unaware that dozens of police, security guards and federal agents were swiftly searching the stadium for a possible bomb after someone phoned in a threat to 911. Authorities made no announcement over the public address system. Ushers said nothing to the crowd. Jason Miller, a suburban Detroit rabbi, left the game against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night and didn't learn about the threat until the following day. "I immediately started thinking, 'What if?'" he said. "What if they had to evacuate?" Miller's concerns highlighted a vexing question for organizers of major public events: Should large crowds be informed about unconfirmed threats to their safety? Or is better to keep the matter quiet until investigators can check into it? If authorities "evacuate every time there is a bomb threat, there will be a lot of empty places," said Steve La...

As they watched a Detroit Tigers baseball game, 40,000 sports fans were unaware that dozens of police, security guards and federal agents were swiftly searching the stadium for a possible bomb after someone phoned in a threat to 911. Authorities made no announcement over the public address system. Ushers said nothing to the crowd. Jason Miller, a suburban Detroit rabbi, left the game against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night and didn't learn about the threat until the following day. "I immediately started thinking, 'What if?'" he said. "What if they had to evacuate?" Miller's concerns highlighted a vexing question for organizers of major public events: Should large crowds be informed about unconfirmed threats to their safety? Or is better to keep the matter quiet until investigators can check into it? If authorities "evacuate every time there is a bomb threat, there will be a lot of empty places," said Steve Layne ...