Well, here we are in 2010 and look at all the interesting things going on.

Of course, when it seems like so many things are happening at once, whether the headlines scream of natural disasters, fiscal policy changes or credit card reform, such chaos can make way for opportunistic fraud.

To stay on top of the trends and for split second Canadian and International FraudInfo, stay tuned to FraudBlog on twitter with daily tweets.

Happy Investigating!

To all you naysayers out there that hate the thought of being watched by security cameras (hey, they're not watching you.... they're watching the shoplifters!), check out the video below of someone on their way to the gym in Thornhill.

As Torontoist so delicately put it: "It is actually possible to drive guiltily. Somewhere between R, D, and N on that SUV's gearshift is a little notch marked: "OH SHI-."

This video is hilarious (no one was hurt) and draws attention to how useful CCTV footage can be in a criminal or fraud investigation.

Of course, we haven't yet mastered the CSI method depicted below. (read images L->R)

Props to Le Freak for the hilarious CSI link. You know my frustrations too well!

From time to time I like to see what sort of things people are searching for when they hit FraudBlog.net.

Google Analytics and other software help to disect the traffic flowing to a website or the traffic associate with an RSS feed, a particular link, or someone's Twitter account.

Of course, gaining insight into the users of a particular website is useful on many levels whether one is advertising a product, selling a service or simply posting to a blog.

Sometimes the search terms are a little weird, like how to get ransom money to a bank account and some are just plain funny.

With the recent news about a Canadian left in Kenya due to an unfortunate passport picture, I thought the following sequential list of search terms might shed some light on the frequency of passport falsification.

First search term:
"under uv light fake passport"
Ok, seems cool. Someone's trying to research the security features in a passport.

Next search term:
"what if i got caught using a borrowed passport"
Hmmm, maybe not so cool? I like the use of the term 'borrowed', very diplomatic :)

Next:
"no way to get fake passports"
I would disagree with this one. For more on this, see my post about a passport maker in Peel.

Next:
"how i can travel to canada with fake passport"
Evidently, someone found a 'novelty' passport on the web.

Next:
"sell fake passport in toronto"
Hey, wait a sec! Someone's trying to specialize in buying AND selling!

Next:
"canadian passport seized by police how to get back?"
Heh, sucker!