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When insurance fraud goes horribly, messily wrong...

Police in Slovenia have accused a woman of cutting off her hand with a circular saw - with the help of her family - to make a fraudulent insurance claim.

The woman allegedly stood to gain about €400,000 (£340,000; $450,000) in compensation and monthly payments of about €3,000 from the policy.

Officials say the group left the severed hand behind rather than bring it to hospital, to ensure the disability was permanent. But the authorities recovered it in time to sew it back on.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47531957

(Guess she was looking for a hand-out...)
 
You know that old idea of sending random invoices to big companies in the hope it'll get buried in the system and paid?

Well...

Last week, Evaldas Rimasauskas of Lithuania plead guilty to US wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering charges, admitting that he had stolen $99m from Facebook and $23m from Google between 2013 and 2015.

Rimasauskas's grift was pretty bold. He merely sent Google and Facebook invoices for items they hadn't purchased and that he hadn't provided, which the companies paid anyway.


https://boingboing.net/2019/03/24/evaldas-rimasauskas.html
 
You know that old idea of sending random invoices to big companies in the hope it'll get buried in the system and paid?

Well...

Last week, Evaldas Rimasauskas of Lithuania plead guilty to US wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering charges, admitting that he had stolen $99m from Facebook and $23m from Google between 2013 and 2015.

Rimasauskas's grift was pretty bold. He merely sent Google and Facebook invoices for items they hadn't purchased and that he hadn't provided, which the companies paid anyway.


https://boingboing.net/2019/03/24/evaldas-rimasauskas.html

That's a helluva lot of money to go unaccounted for for so long. You would think there would be processes in place to ensure that such large volumes of money don't go missing without checks and balances. Apparently not.
 
That's a helluva lot of money to go unaccounted for for so long. You would think there would be processes in place to ensure that such large volumes of money don't go missing without checks and balances. Apparently not.
Most places I've worked have a system for signing off goods and services as delivered. I suspect these scams are a little more sophisticated and rely on the 'insertion' of such paperwork into the mark's processes. So probably an inside accomplice is involved.
 
A pretty good con.

Israeli police have arrested three men accused of scamming €8 million (£6.8 million) from a businessman by impersonating the French foreign minister.

The suspects, said to be French-Israelis, reportedly created a replica of Jean-Yves Le Drian's Paris office in Israel to conduct Skype calls.

They allegedly told targets that the money was needed for secret operations and to pay ransom money for hostages in Syria and Mali.

All three men deny any involvement.

The suspects, aged between 37 and 47, are accused of attempting to scam business owners and directors of large companies on the French stock market, telling their marks that the transactions had to be kept secret.

Only one person approached by the group handed over cash, according to Israeli media reports.

According to the reports, the conmen built a replica of Mr Le Drian's French foreign ministry office at a location in Israel, including matching furniture, a portrait of French president Emmanuel Macron and a French flag in the background.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47741880
 
Taking things a bit far in this scam!

Italian police have arrested 34 people allegedly involved in a "bone-breaking" medical insurance scam in Palermo, Sicily.

The perpetrators allegedly broke people's limbs and staged road accidents in exchange for part of their insurance payout. The scam was first uncovered when one individual died after being beaten, police say. Eleven people were arrested over similar activity last August.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47938738
 
The story of Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey, a fake socialite/wealthy heiress, who conned her way through New York and ran up huge hotel bills.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html

Following a month-long trial, Ms Sorokin has now been found guilty of multiple offences, including stealing more than $200,000 - after racking up debts and fraudulently trying to secure major bank loans.

Ms Sorokin, who chose not to testify and pleaded not guilty, now faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced on 9 May.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47741923
 
Most places I've worked have a system for signing off goods and services as delivered. I suspect these scams are a little more sophisticated and rely on the 'insertion' of such paperwork into the mark's processes. So probably an inside accomplice is involved.

My previous work got scammed by some Nigerians, they'd hacked the email account of a legitimate supplier, then I guess monitored it without anyone realising before sending through a seemingly legitimate email telling us they'd changed their bank details right as a big invoice was about to go through.

It worked once. After that they changed the procedure so all emails re changes to bank details were followed up with a phone call to the supplier to verify.

Also a very bizarre scam was used at one of our hotels (I worked at head office) where the scammers actually physically stole a PDQ machine (ie card reader) from another hotel, swapped it with one of the same brand at our hotel then pushed for a refund on transactions that were on it... which would sort of check out as none of the transactions would match actual room bookings... never got my head around the fine details of that one, not hard to see how that would leave the front of house staff bamboozled.

They really are getting crazy elaborate.
 
Well I got a phone call this morning to tell me that my internet was about to be cut off in 24 hours due to some illegal activity.

Threw me for a bit of a loop as I'm helping with a big demo next week that's already had some friction with the plod so I figured maybe this was some attempt at disruption.

Call was an automated voice that then put me through to an 'Indian' call centre where I was told that someone had tried to hack my router which had flagged up as something illegal and they could fix it if only I followed their instructions... became obvious it was dodgy when they asked me to open a command prompt lol

Person wouldn't give me their name when challenged, it all started falling apart when they claimed to be from Openreach ROFLMFAO who are not my ISP, managed to get an address from them which is the registered address of Openreach in the UK, expect they got that from companies house.

Oddly they did give me some sort of 30 digit number which they reckoned shoud match something, may just have been making that up.

When I called BS on the bugger on the grounds that I'm not with Openreach, they then tried to claim it didn't matter and that Openreach still ran the cable infrastructure, or something like that.

Hung up after that.
 
Well I got a phone call this morning to tell me that my internet was about to be cut off in 24 hours due to some illegal activity.

Threw me for a bit of a loop as I'm helping with a big demo next week that's already had some friction with the plod so I figured maybe this was some attempt at disruption.

Call was an automated voice that then put me through to an 'Indian' call centre where I was told that someone had tried to hack my router which had flagged up as something illegal and they could fix it if only I followed their instructions... became obvious it was dodgy when they asked me to open a command prompt lol

Person wouldn't give me their name when challenged, it all started falling apart when they claimed to be from Openreach ROFLMFAO who are not my ISP, managed to get an address from them which is the registered address of Openreach in the UK, expect they got that from companies house.

Oddly they did give me some sort of 30 digit number which they reckoned shoud match something, may just have been making that up.

When I called BS on the bugger on the grounds that I'm not with Openreach, they then tried to claim it didn't matter and that Openreach still ran the cable infrastructure, or something like that.

Hung up after that.
Does sound like a scam.
 
I went with my mum to the Tesco at the Elephant & Castle when I was a kid. There were 8 of us in the house so the weekly shop was quite large. At the time there were no scanners and everything was added up on a conventional till.
Mum went home, went through the receipt and found she had been charged for a number of items that weren’t there. She packed the whole lot up went back to the store had a row with the manager and pointed out all the excess items were still stood to one side of the checkout. That was proper grifting, 4 or 5 items of various value left to one side then added to everyone else’s bill. Mum got her money back with a little extra to cover her inconvenience “due to the oversight” by the girl on the till, and enough green shield stamps to cover the New Kent Road.
 
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An award-winning German historian has been stripped of a national blogging prize after she was found to have made up the stories of 22 Jewish relatives who she said “died in the Holocaust”.
Marie-Sophie Hingst, 31, rose to prominence thanks to her vivid accounts of her grandmother’s family, who she claimed had been killed in Nazi death camps during World War Two.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...venting-family-s-holocaust-past-a4158841.html
 
An award-winning German historian has been stripped of a national blogging prize after she was found to have made up the stories of 22 Jewish relatives who she said “died in the Holocaust”.
Marie-Sophie Hingst, 31, rose to prominence thanks to her vivid accounts of her grandmother’s family, who she claimed had been killed in Nazi death camps during World War Two.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...venting-family-s-holocaust-past-a4158841.html

That is appalling, it's the sort of stuff that Holocaust Deniers seize on to spread their hate. This woman has a lot to answer for.
 
Warning : Article in Swedish!

https://www.skovdenyheter.se/article/kd-politiker-atalas-har-berattar-han/

But summary : Local politician claims he fell for a Nigerian "You've inherited 6 million USD!" scam. Transferred about 1 million Swedish Kronor (SEK) of his own money. Then borrowed another 500 000 SEK from family. Unfortunately, he also had access to the bank accounts of his political party (the Christian Democrats)... 2 million SEK embezzled.

Grand total lost, 3.5 million SEK (about 285 000 GBP). Quite impressive (and sad).

The numpty has been sentenced. 2 years in jail. Don't know if they accepted his "The Nigerians did it" plea.

https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=97&artikel=7242523
 
Man who thought he bought first house furious after it turns out to be 30cm strip of land

If you're feeling a bit anxious about buying your first property, take some comfort in knowing you will probably do better than this bloke.

South Florida man Kerville Holness, a first-time auction bidder, thought he’d just landed an absolute steal after his $13,000 bid won the online auction.

Unfortunately for old Kerville, his villa turned out to be a strip of land, measuring 30cm by 30m.

It’s only worth $72 (USD$50).


Photo and details:
https://7news.com.au/business/prope...t-turns-out-to-be-30cm-strip-of-land-c-168750
 
That is appalling, it's the sort of stuff that Holocaust Deniers seize on to spread their hate. This woman has a lot to answer for.
It’s sad that it is still happening today, there have been a number of arrests due to false claims submitted following Grenfell; people trying to milk a tragedy for personal gain. We should bring back the stocks so these people can be publicly shamed and humiliated for their crimes.
 
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The Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) has found that so-called "cure-all power cards" sold for up to 1,500 baht apiece in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen emit a very dangerous level of radiation -- and users of the cards risk cancer.
OAP, Thailand's nuclear regulation and research body, stated on its website on Monday that after thoroughly examining samples of the cards, its staff found they contained uranium and thorium, and emitted a radioactivity level of about 40 microsieverts per hour.

That level is about 350 times people's safe maximum annual exposure to radiation, the office stated.
The office was responding to reports that buyers of such "power cards" in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen were using them to stir cups of water and then drinking it to relieve pain. Reports also said that some buyers were placing cups of water on the cards for about 10 seconds before drinking, or were pressing the cards onto parts of their bodies in the hopes of pain relief.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1696768/cure-all-power-cards-could-actually-be-killers
 
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That is appalling, it's the sort of stuff that Holocaust Deniers seize on to spread their hate. This woman has a lot to answer for.

This is a far sadder tale and more complex than I originally thought. It looks as if she has committed suicide.

The life and tragic death of Trinity graduate and writer Sophie Hingst
Derek Scally Jul 27, 2019
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/the-life-and-tragic-death-of-trinity-graduate-and-writer-sophie-hingst-1.3967259


https://www.irishtimes.com/news/wor...utm_campaign=morning_briefing_digest#comments
 
Thanks for highlighting that excellent article, Ramon, it seems that because so many claim false victims of the Holocaust in their family, this journalist took her invented stories as the final straw. Alas, for Sophie it really was, and once her fantasy had been exposed she had nothing left to do but self-destruct. Just shows that kneejerk reactions online are not always the best reactions.
 
Brazil gang leader dresses up as teenage daughter in jail-break attempt

On Saturday, Rio de Janeiro-based drug trafficker Clauvino da Silva, currently serving 73 years, attempted to sneak out of the city’s most notorious prison wearing that disguise and in the hope of convincing guards he was in fact his 19-year-old daughter heading home after visiting hours.

But when Silva – AKA Baixinho (“Shorty”) – requested the return of his daughter’s ID card at the jail entrance officers saw through his low-budget disguise and asked him to strip in front of the cameras. That video has since gone viral in Brazil and around the world.
EBHRo0uXoAA4cgp.jpg

But Saturday’s farcical getaway was not Silva’s first. In January 2013 he was one of 31 prisoners who tried to tunnel out of the same prison complex through the sewers. Four dirt-covered inmates were immediately recaptured but Silva made it out alongside other gang members called “Fish”, “Spiderman” and “Sledge Hammer”.

The following month he was reportedly rearrested while attempting to seize control of a shantytown in Rio’s west region with a group of heavily armed men.

Reports on Monday said the 42-year-old drug trafficker had been moved to solitary confinement but was unlikely to face extra jail time since his unsuccessful bid for freedom had not involved violence.

His daughter, Ana Gabriele Leandro da Silva, who had remained behind in the prison as part of the ruse, seemed to have been less lucky.

According to Rio newspaper Extra she would be charged with abetting prison escape, a crime punishable with up to two years in jail. Seven other visitors – including a pregnant woman suspected of smuggling the disguise into the jail – are also being investigated.
 
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