fraud

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Phony Ad Clicks at Record High
 Phony Ad Clicks at Record High 
Jan 28, 2009 4:07 PM CST

Phony Ad Clicks at Record High

Click fraud rate climbs to 17.1% in fourth quarter of 2008

(Newser) - Fraudulent attempts to deceive web advertisers into paying for phony clicks reached an all-time high in the last quarter of 2008, CNET reports. The rate of phony to genuine clicks climbed to 17.1% in the fourth quarter, increasing 1.1% from the third quarter and 0.5% from the...

Guess Who Also Cheats at Golf
 Guess Who Also Cheats at Golf 
Jan 27, 2009 11:37 AM CST

Guess Who Also Cheats at Golf

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff’s golf buddies knew something was up. No, not the whole global Ponzi scheme thing, which many would lose fortunes in. But something did seem fishy about his golf handicap. Madoff played off a 14 or 15, says one participant from a May tournament, but it should have...

New York 'Mini-Madoff' Busted
 New York 'Mini-Madoff' Busted 
Jan 27, 2009 6:09 AM CST

New York 'Mini-Madoff' Busted

Cops accuse New York financier of scamming investors out of millions

(Newser) - New York police have busted a financier accused of running a Ponzi scheme, Reuters reports. Nick Cosmo—sentenced to 21 months on swindling charges in 1999—may have bilked investors of up to $380 million through his firm Agape World, which claimed to make high-interest bridge loans, according to authorities....

Trust Fund Teens TP Madoff Mansion

Pranksters blast accused swindler for wiping out future fortunes

(Newser) - Pranksters whose future fortunes were battered by accused swindler Bernard Madofff festooned his tony Palm Beach digs with toilet paper over the weekend, reports the Palm Beach Post. Teenage boys called the newspaper to claim responsibility for the guerrilla tactic and blasted Madoff for wiping out their trust funds. The...

Credit Card Processor Bares Massive Hacker Breach

Sophisticated hackers nab vast amounts credit card data

(Newser) - A credit card payment processor has disclosed a data breach that experts believe could be the biggest ever and may be putting millions of consumers at risk of ripoffs, the Washington Post reports. Heartland Payment Systems, which handles 100 million transactions from 250,000 businesses every month, believes malicious software...

Ruth Madoff: Accomplice or Another Victim?

Both possibilities hard to believe, friends say of inseparable couple

(Newser) - Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth, have been married for nearly 50 years and are practically inseparable. They worked together, and the outgoing blonde with the all-American look attracted friends to his hedge fund, the New York Times reports. So did she know or didn't she? "It’s hard...

NY Investigates Madoff Chum in Charity Losses

Nonprofits say Merkin invested millions without their knowledge

(Newser) - New York investigators widened their inquiry into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme yesterday, as claims emerged that a middleman may have defrauded charities of millions of dollars. Money manager Ezra Merkin allegedly invested the money of 15 nonprofits in Madoff funds without their knowledge, reports the New York Daily News. New...

Scamsters Cash In on Foreclosure Crisis

Phony rescuers collect big upfront fees from desperate homeowners

(Newser) - A new breed of crook is getting rich preying on homeowners desperate to fend off foreclosure, the New York Times reports. Scamsters set themselves up as "foreclosure rescue companies,” collect big upfront fees for the promise to modify loans, then do little or nothing to help. Some people...

Death Hoax Pilot Captured After Apparent Suicide Try

Accused swindler found in Florida campground with wrist slit

(Newser) - A businessman believed to have faked his own death by jumping out of a plane has been captured in Florida, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports. Law enforcement sources say Marcus Schrenker was found at a campground, alive but with his wrists slit. The fugitive had emailed a friend Monday...

Broker Tried to Fake Plane Death: Cops

Pilot facing fraud charges abandoned plane in mid-air

(Newser) - An Indiana businessman being investigated for fraud apparently tried to fake his death in a plane crash, the Indianapolis Star reports. Authorities believe businessman Mark Schrenker, an accomplished stunt pilot, faked a distress call from the small plane he was piloting saying that the windshield had imploded and he was...

Madoff Stays Free on Bail
 Madoff Stays Free on Bail 
Jan 12, 2009 11:37 AM CST

Madoff Stays Free on Bail

Judge doesn't revoke bail

(Newser) - A New York judge ruled today that Bernard Madoff may remain free on bail, rejecting a bid by prosecutors to send the disgraced investor to jail. Madoff mailed more than $1 million in jewelry and heirlooms to family and friends over the holidays. Prosecutors said the gifts were grounds to...

Court Reinstates Corruption Case Against Zuma

Ahead of vote, would-be S. African prez faces 16 counts of fraud

(Newser) - Jacob Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress and the likely next president of South Africa, once again faces corruption charges after the country's top appeals court reinstated 16 counts of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion today. The court reversed a bombshell ruling from last September that threw...

Madoff Whistleblower Shrinks From Spotlight

Tenacious accountant stands to make book, film money, but just wants to move on

(Newser) - Harry Markopolos, the accountant who began warning the feds years ago about Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, wasn’t looking for the limelight, the Boston Globe reports. Not only is he testifying before Congress—he’s also been deluged by book and movie offers. His is “a remarkably compelling...

Madoff Mails $1M in Bling; Feds Pounce

(Newser) - Prosecutors are fuming after Bernard Madoff mailed more than $1 million in jewelry to his sons on Christmas Eve, the New York Post reports. The Ponzi schemer was dragged into court today but left under house arrest pending written arguments. Madoff's bail agreement allows such a gift, but an SEC...

Madoff Ruse Exploited Palm Beach's Clubby Ways
Madoff Ruse Exploited
Palm Beach's Clubby Ways
ANALYSIS
Jan 3, 2009 3:08 PM CST

Madoff Ruse Exploited Palm Beach's Clubby Ways

Swindler exploited ritzy Palm Beach culture to bilk investors

(Newser) - You have to give it to Bernie Madoff: The Ponzi pirate wasn’t your average fraudster, Daniel Gross observes in Slate. Look no further than Palm Beach, which was "ground zero" of his scheme. Madoff got where he did by “fiendishly exploiting the unique, clubby culture" of the...

Madoff Got $10M Investment Days Before Arrest: Suit

Funds were businessman's first Madoff deal

(Newser) - A New York businessman is suing to recover $10 million he handed over to Bernard Madoff 6 days before the alleged Ponzi schemer was arrested, the Wall Street Journal reports. Martin Rosenman wired the funds to a JP Morgan Chase account controlled by Madoff, who told the first-time investor that...

Any Madoff Money Will Be a Long Time Coming

(Newser) - If past fraud cases are a guide, investors rooked by Bernard Madoff will have to wait quite a while to see even a fraction of their initial investments returned, Reuters reports. Court action is notoriously slow, but that’s only half the problem: Recovering money is possible only if it’...

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Lead to Madoff

Actor, wife Kyra Sedgwick lost money in Ponzi scheme

(Newser) - It turns out Kevin Bacon didn’t put enough degrees between himself and Bernie Madoff. Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick join Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg on the list of Hollywood denizens duped by the Ponzi schemer, Bacon’s rep confirmed to New York magazine. Rumor has it the couple...

Tables Turn: Madoff Gets Ripped Off

Thieves rip-off investment fraudster

(Newser) - In a bit of poetic justice, a thief stole an expensive statue from the Palm Beach estate of Bernard Madoff last week, the New York Post reports. Burglars took a $10,000 copper statue depicting two lifeguards from the fraudster accused of losing $50 billion of investors’ money in a...

5 Men Who Fueled Madoff's Ponzi Scheme

(Newser) - Government investigators are turning their eye to the middlemen who led clients into Bernard Madoff's long-running Ponzi scheme. The Wall Street Journal profiles five of them:
  • Robert Jaffe: A dashing Florida philanthropist, he funneled tony clients to ex-boss Madoff. Jaffe says he is a "victim of these tragic events.
...

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