Just when you think you have a grasp on the gaps involved in online fraud prevention, a new trend takes over the cyber world and throws everyone's confidence for a loop.

The average user’s knowledge of current scams and pitfalls can quickly become outdated.

To combat this lack of understanding, the CBA has taken their turn at educating the masses on the possible issues involved in using social networking and P2P sites--two areas of the internet used extensively but whose pitfalls are rarely understood by current users.

Banks Team Up for Cyber Security Awareness Month to Help Canadians Avoid Online Threats From Social Networking and File Sharing Sites
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Tuesday, October 6, 2008, 10:02 EST

The Internet has made it easier than ever to bank, shop, communicate with others and find information about almost anything at any time. But as Internet use among Canadians continues to rise, so too does the number of criminals who commit identity theft and fraud using information they've found online.

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month and to raise awareness among Canadians, banks have teamed up to provide information, consumer tips and an interactive quiz to educate consumers about online threats so they can protect themselves and their computers. The information can be found at www.cba.ca.

"With Canadians using the Internet in many new ways, criminals unfortunately have an even greater number of options to obtain and illegally use individuals' personal information," said Nancy Hughes Anthony, president and CEO of the Canadian Bankers Association.

Continue to the rest of the Wall Street Journal article.

This post is a bit of a catch up after a few hectic weeks so I thought I would provide 3 interesting (though not necessarily related) events that have transpired during this time.

1. Xenu, a fraud? Naw! Really?
   France Accuses Scientologists of Perpetrating Fraud
   (Leaving Tom Cruise to his blockbusting movie career...)

   Often criticized for its legitimacy as a religion, Scientology gets some attention in France.

2. Sign In To Your Google Account!
   And see how convincing this site is.

   As e-mail and internet users become more tech savvy, so too have the frauds associated with these services. A new webpage found at http://mail.google.com/confirmation/ tricked many into believing they were logging into an authentic webpage.

   PLEASE NOTE: Do NOT log in to the webpage above. While it is okay to simply click on the page and view it, it is NOT a legitimate GMail page and you should not provide your username and password using this link.
   ***Thanks to LeFreak for the information in this article.***

And most recently...

3. Grandma, is that you? I need your help...
   See where the money really goes when you act quickly.

   Unfortunately for Gramma, she's no longer the only one being taken for a ride. The RCMP's PhoneBusters line (now labeled the CAFCC) reports that complaints this year for variousn phone scams have more than doubled 2007 figures. Figures are up for "Emergency Scams" involving payment to help an unidentified loved one claiming to be in an emergency.

In the white-collar world, becoming a whistle-blower is something many hide from but have ultimately taken the decision to do the right thing and stand up for what they feel is right. We often hear of whistle-blowers in the news and while their efforts are considered heroic by some, many live with the stigma of having become a snitch within their corporate community.

In the case of the US health system, it appears as though the efforts of various whistle-blowers has aided in the US recouping $9.3billion.

How can this success be applied in the business world?

• Ensure you have a confidential hotline set up (preferably by a third party such as one recommended by the ACFE, EthicsLine) so that employees within your organization can call on any suspicious or fraudulent activity they witness.
• Set up a confidential e-mail for the same purpose as the voicemail above. This e-mail allows greater anonymity to the person disclosing the incident, often encouraging witnesses of fraudulent activity to come forward.
• Ensure an environment of "perception of detection". Make sure that individuals within your company know that management is present and aware of daily activities within a company. The simple perception that someone will notice can eliminate many incidents of fraud.

Whistle-blowers help US recoup $9.3 billion
ASSOCIATED PRESS - Monday, September 1, 2008, 12:00 EST
Whistle-blowers helped authorities recover at least $9.3 billion from health care providers accused of defrauding states and the federal government, according to an analysis of Justice Department records.

The department ramped up efforts in the 1990s to combat health care fraud by using private citizens with inside knowledge of wrongdoing. They now initiate more than 90 percent of the department's lawsuits focusing on health care fraud.[...]

While the number of claims pursued has dropped in recent years, recovery amounts have soared because of a late addition to the cast of defendants — pharmaceutical manufacturers. Recoveries jumped from about $10 million a case in 2002 to $50 million by 2005.

Continue to the rest of the Associated Press article.

Further to Friday's post on the Calgary debit card fraud scam, controversy has arisen over Ehud Tenenbaum's identity and whether he is the same Tenenbaum (a.k.a. The Analyzer) involved in the Pentagon computer hackings a decade ago.

Mother of Israeli hacker held over $1.8m fraud: FBI framed my son
HAARETZ.com - Sunday, September 7, 2008, 13:40 EST
The mother of an Israeli living in Canada who has recently been arrested in Montreal on suspicion of committing fraud to the tune of $1.8 million accused on Saturday the FBI of framing her son.

"This is a conspiracy and the FBI is involved in it. A few U.S. bodies made it clear to Ehud that his day would come," said Ehud Tenenbaum's mother, Malka.

"Ehud was never accused of stealing, he works hard at IT security and doesn't have to steal," she added.

Canadian media reported on Friday that Alberta police suspect Ehud Tenenbaum and three co-conspirators hacked into the database of a Calgary financial services company.

Continue to the rest of the HAARETZ.com article.

The disgruntled workers of Office Space did it by rounding bank transactions to the nearest decimal in their favour, imitating the salami slicing scheme involved in Superman III.

Several months ago I had come across an interesting article detailing that "When it comes to high-tech scam artists, Calgary is No. 1 with a bullet". The article continued to detail Calgary's recent boom and its consequence:

"Calgary's the nation's hot spot for inventive crooks using a series of new and unscrupulously creative ways to skim debit card information from businesses for later raids on victims' bank accounts, says a city cop.

The city's growing affluence has made it the prime focus for nomadic organized criminals who plant tampered-with PIN number pads in businesses they later lift to collect banking data, said Acting Det. Darren Hafner."

The following article details how these organized criminals allegedly used pre-paid debit cards originating in Calgary to steal $1.8M via ABM's in Montreal and abroad.

Four charged in Calgary debit fraud
THE CALGARY SUN - Friday, September 5, 2008, 01:51 MST
Canadian and U.S. law enforcers say they cracked into the crimes of highly sophisticated computer hackers now accused of stealing nearly $2 million from a Calgary-based company.

And an Israeli hacker self-dubbed The Analyzer -- who hacked into the Pentagon several years ago -- is among four alleged organized criminals nabbed in Montreal after a nine-month investigation by cops in Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver and U.S. Secret Service members.

Calgary commercial crime unit Staff Sgt. Gordon Bull said the suspects tapped into the Calgary company's database over the Internet, making pre-paid debit cards with falsely inflated values they then used to make cash withdrawals at ATMs throughout Canada and other countries.

Most of the Canadian withdrawals were in Montreal.

Continue to the rest of the Calgary Sun article.

We take pride in making fun of those less fortunate in the IQ Department.

For instance, the story of a bank robber presenting ID to the teller prior to her advancing any funds has been passed around since long before my time in the financial industry and continues to this day with various twists.

Because of these stories, we often forget that for all the copycat criminals and bumbling idiots, there are individuals who apply themselves to fraudulent activities with great focus and fervor.

This brings me to the dedicated individuals in the following article. They have been meticulously researching and buying domain names for charities prior to the disaster taking place; working diligently to predict the next charitable cause.

Scam artists use the Net to prey on the charitable
THE VANCOUVER SUN -Thursday, August 8, 2008, 07:00 PDT
Online crooks have become more skilled at masquerading as legitimate organizations soliciting disaster-relief funds

They may not hold a meteorology degree or possess a fortune teller's crystal ball, but online criminals are very much in the forecasting business.

They're trying to predict when the next big natural disaster will hit, and are scooping up domain names that sound like charitable donation sites dedicated to a specific crisis. As public awareness grows of the rampant criminal activity on the Internet, these online thieves are getting increasingly crafty in their trickery.

[...]"What's quite disturbing is we've seen the scammers predicting the next disaster from time to time," says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos in Oxford, England. "So, in the case of hurricanes, because there is a set procedure for naming them, you actually see that as the hurricane begins to build up in the Caribbean on its way to Florida or Louisiana, the scammers are beginning to purchase the domain names in advance of the actual big disaster."

Continue to the rest of the Vancouver Sun article.