Prime Time Crime
Scams & Identity theft
Canada has fallen short in protecting its critical infrastructure from a whole host of risks, says a new report published by public policy think-tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute. (QMI) REPORT: Canada's Critical Infrastructure .pdf
Saskatchewan's potash industry was the target of January's unprecedented cyber theft of classified federal data. (PostMedia) RELATED: Potash profits spur political spin
SAN FRANCISCO - A Las Vegas man accused of sending more than 27M spam messages to Facebook users faces federal fraud and computer tampering charges. (AP)
OTTAWA - Hackers who attacked two of Canada's federal departments stole classified information before being discovered last January. (CBC) Government's computer system came under attack.
OTTAWA - The RCMP believes fraud in Canada is approaching the size and scope of the drug trade. March is fraud prevention month and the RCMP is taking part in a two-day conference in Ottawa called Preventing Fraud in the Digital Age. (CBC) MORE: RCMP scams and fraud Competition Bureau
Sometime in the days leading up to Halloween, the 8,120th Canadian contacted police about being ripped off in a mass marketing scam, surpassing the total number of such victims reported for all of 2009. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 95% of people who are scammed never report it. (CBC)
SAN FRANCISCO - Dozens of websites have been secretly harvesting lists of places that their users previously visited online, everything from news articles to bank sites to pornography, a team of computer scientists found. (Fox)
LOS ANGELES - A Vancouver telemarketer who bilked mainly elderly victims out of nearly $2M has been sentenced in Los Angeles. Dillon Sherif was ordered to spend more than 14 years in prison and to repay his victims nearly $925,000. The US attorney's office says the 49-year-old operated phoney lotteries from Canada and Spain. (CTV)
Most data breaches are inside jobs
Organized cyber-criminals and malicious insiders were responsible for most corporate data breaches in 2009, and used tactics like credential abuse, hacking and sophisticated social engineering to get away with their heists, according to a new report by Verizon and the Secret Service. (SF Gate) REPORT: 2010 data breach investigations report .pdf
"The ZeuS Compromise" may sound like a great movie, but it's actually a newly uncovered, massive hacking network - and it's a doozy, affecting more than 74,000 PCs in 2,400 business and government systems around the world. And it's still up and running. (Fox) PREVIOUS: Botnet
OTTAWA - Advertisers who track people's online behaviour better watch their own back. Tracking is possible because everything a person does online is recorded with tracking technologies, such as HTTP cookies, web beacons and deep packet inspection technology. (PostMedia) REPORT: Privacy and Online behavioural advertising Online tracking rules Tips for online privacy
About 200 customers of the Central Maine Power Company recently noticed something odd after the utility installed smart meters in their homes: in some cases other wireless devices stopped working, or behaved erratically. (Security Week)
BERLIN - The Berlin-based Chaos Computer Club (CCC) said it had analyzed a "lawful interception" malware programme called Federal Trojan, used by the German police force. (BBC) MORE: Federal Trojan DigiTask admits sale of spyware Hackers crack government spy software
VANCOUVER - A young BC woman says an oversight by tellers at Canada's largest credit union helped scammers steal $5,000 from her. (CBC)
More than 4M PCs have been enrolled in a botnet security experts say is almost "indestructible". The botnet, known as TDL, targets Windows PCs and is difficult to detect and shut down. (BBC)
HONG KONG - For years now Chinese authorities have been installing spying devices on all dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles, enabling a vast network of eavesdropping across the archipelago. (Epoch Times) RELATED: Canadian software censors the net
TORONTO - Roger Neiley, 27, faces 60 charges for allegedly selling thousands of dollars worth of non-existent tickets, mostly for Toronto venues, over the Internet. He was sentenced to three months in jail back in 2007 for his role in a similar scheme run by his roommate, Shaun Nixon. (QMI)
The way websites track visitors and tailor ads to their behaviour is about to undergo a big shake-up. From 25 May, European laws dictate that "explicit consent" must be gathered from web users who are being tracked via text files called "cookies". (BBC) MORE: Your online choices
SEATTLE - A BC man has been sentenced to more than 4 years in an American prison and fined $303,196 for operating a "cruel" $1.2M online dating scam. Delta resident Barrie Turner, 66, operated more than 200 websites offering so-called "Executive Dating" services. He was arrested for mail fraud after more than 100 people complained that they were being matched with imaginary people. (CTV)
LOS ANGELES - Henry Anekwu of Vancouver was also ordered to pay about $500,000 in restitution. (AP) MORE: 9 years for scamming elderly out of homes
An ex government informant has been charged with one of the largest identity theft cases in history. Details from more than 130M bank accounts were allegedly stolen by Albert Gonzalez, who once worked with the US Secret Service. (Daily Mail)
EDMONTON - Police say what started as a vehicle stop to check out a stolen licence plate has led to a major bust: they reveal more than 1,000 credit cards, thousands of electronic credit card numbers and equipment used to manufacture counterfeit credit cards were recovered late last month. (CTV) MORE: 4 charged Rookie cops bust credit card ring
The man who helps people disappear
Frank M. Ahearn is the man who can help you disappear. As the world’s number one “privacy expert”, Ahearn is in such demand that his website, www.frankahearn.com with its useful subsections entitled “Keys to Disappearing”, “Offshore Information”, etc, gets up to 90 hits a day. (Times online)
Anonymous might not be so anonymous
WASHINGTON - The arrests of 21 individuals Tuesday connected with the Anonymous group and other computer hackers suggest that the suite of digital tools that hackers use to obscure their identities is not foolproof and can be cracked with significant sleuthing. (Christian Science Monitor) MORE: Hackivist response to FBI arrests Anonymous NATO security breach
Spanish police website attacked
1 in 4 hackers 'is an FBI informer'
TOKYO - Japan was likely caught flat-footed by a recent spate of cyber attacks against the heart of its government and defense industry, experts said, warning that the country's credibility and diplomatic relations could suffer unless prompt countermeasures were put in place. (Reuters)
Building capacity in cyber security
Apple has released a software update after complaints that iPhones and iPads were secretly recording locations. The problem came to light when security researchers found a hidden file on the devices containing a record of everywhere they had been. (BBC)
TORONTO - DataCom Marketing Inc. scammed more than 50,000 small-and medium-sized businesses in a telemarketing scheme that generated an estimated $158M between 1994 and 2005. (CBC) PREVIOUS: Deceptive telemarketing charges $158M scam Competition Bureau Telemarketers face jail
Computer-security researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands revealed how the smart-card technology, called MIFARE, can be hacked to let anyone with a computer and $100 worth of parts create counterfeit transit and building-access passes. (CBC) PREVIOUS: Security-chip credit card Smart card
CRTC's do-not-call-list enforcement
OTTAWA - Enforcement of the national do-not-call list is ineffective, even though more than 300,000 complaints have been filed against unwanted telemarketers. The federal government said it has imposed $73,000 in fines in less than two years - but collected only $250 as of March 1. (CTV)
CRTC urged to stop tele-hackers
CRTC national do-not-call list
NEW YORK - The cyber attacks began in Eastern Europe and included malware known as the Zeus Trojan. (LA Times)
SAN FRANCISCO - Hackers again targeted the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, which came under fire recently for turning off cellphone and wireless service in a few of its underground downtown San Francisco stations to thwart a potential protest over a police shooting. (CBS)
BART admits halting cell service
OTTAWA - A 56-year-old Ottawa man is facing counterfeit-related charges after sheets with Ontario's holographic design were found at Ottawa's airport. (CP) PREVIOUS: Province improves licence security
A stunning 15 million Canadians were repeatedly targeted by mass-marketing fraudsters in the past year and one million were victims, a major study commissioned by Competition Bureau Canada has found. (Ottawa Citizen)
The e-mail message addressed to a Booz Allen Hamilton executive was mundane - a shopping list sent over by the Pentagon of weaponry India wanted to buy. But the missive turned out to be a brilliant fake. Lurking beneath the description of aircraft, engines, and radar equipment was an insidious piece of computer code known as "Poison Ivy" designed to suck sensitive data out of the $4B consulting firm's computer network. (Business Week)
Lost data discs 'endanger protected witnesses'
LONDON - Hundreds of people in police witness protection programmes have been put at risk by the loss of millions of child benefit records. The missing data discs are understood to contain both the real names and the new identities of up to 350 people who have had their identities changed after giving evidence against major criminals. (Telegraph UK) PREVIOUS: Data on 25M lost in post
SEATTLE - On just two groups of servers, in just a few months, federal investigators found more than 200 million spam messages linked to 27-year-old Robert Alan Soloway. (Seattle PI) PREVIOUS: Man's arrest could reduce spam Vancouver man who 'owns the Internet'
WASHINGTON - AOL believes a renegade Internet spammer buried gold and platinum on his parents' property in Massachusetts and wants to bring in bulldozers to search for the treasure and satisfy a $12.8 million judgment it won in federal court. (CBS/AP) PREVIOUS: Return of the 'Kosher Nazi'
PARIS - The Church of Scientology in France has been found guilty of defrauding its followers and its leaders have been handed fines and suspended prison sentences. However, the court did not ban the organization’s activities in France. (AFP)
Celebrities lead charge against Scientology
Police bust telemarketing fraud ring
MONTREAL - Police have dismantled an international telemarketing fraud ring that allegedly targeted thousands of seniors, mostly in the US but also in Canada. (CTV)
www.reddotcampaign.ca spells out a simple two-step process to block junk mail
The Bi-national Working Group on Cross-Border Mass Marketing Fraud in its report on Identity Theft identifies the following means of theft:
Physical Methods
Mail Theft
Theft from Residences and Personal Spaces
Electronic Methods
Misuse Of Personal Data in Business Transactions
Phishing, Spoofing and Pretexting
Theft from Company or Government Databases
The report also deals with the scope of Identity Theft:
In the United States, identity theft-related complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) increased from 86,212 in 2001, to 161,836 in 2002, to 214,905 in 2003 -- an increase of nearly 250 percent. In the first two quarters of 2004, the FTC received an additional 130,217 identity theft complaints. This means that the average number of complaints that the FTC received per week has consistently increased: more than 1600 per week in 2001, more than 3100 per week in 2002, more than 4100 per week in 2003 and more than 5000 per week in the first half of 2004.
In Canada, the PhoneBusters National Call Centre received 7629 identity theft complaints in 2002 from Canadians reporting total losses of more than CAN$8.5 million. In 2003, PhoneBusters received 14,526 identity theft-related complaints from Canadians, reflecting reported losses of more than CAN$21.8 million.
Statistics gathered by PhoneBusters in 2003 and the first half of 2004 indicate the largest number of complaints surrounding identity theft relate to credit cards or false application for a credit card (32 percent) and cell phones or false application for a cell phone (10-12 percent). Similarly, the FTC reports that in 2003, 33 percent of identity theft victims reported that their identifying information was used for credit card fraud and 16 percent of victims reported that their identifying information was used for fraud in ordering phone service. Cell phones accounted for 10.4 percent of this total while landline phones accounted for 5.6 percent. Due to challenges categorizing the statistical information, law enforcement in both countries has reason to believe that actual instances, particularly of credit card "takeover", may actually be much higher.
More Information on Identity Theft
Ottawa missed chance to deport
Data theft worse than first reported
New scam uses counterfeit checks
Scam artists target online checks
BC a global centre for fake ID
Thousands of identities stolen
Thieves after more than credit card
Trio linked to debit-card scams
How credit-card data went out door
ChoicePoint previous identity theft
Bank of America Security Lapse
California sets fines for spyware
The makers of computer programs that secretly spy on what people do with their home PCs could face hefty fines in California. From 1 January, a new law is being introduced to protect computer users from software known as spyware. (BBC)
If you have not installed Spybot or AdAware think about doing so. It’s free. – Chris
Anti-spam plan overwhelms sites
Spoofing' a growing fraud problem
International police nab suspects
'Sasser' teen released other worms
Teen 'confesses' to Sasser worm
Warning on hard drives' security
For a more complete list
For a more complete description of scam letters: