19 stories this week:
Amanda Power faces 62 new charges of fraud in court after allegedly fake cancer diagnosis – 30 November 2023
A former Cancer Council ambassador who police allege lied about a cancer diagnosis has had 62 new charges laid against her. Amanda Power, appeared in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday on 71 fraud charges including dishonestly gaining benefit, obtaining property and causing detriment to others. Police allege she secured thousands of dollars from friends and the community between 2014 and 2019.
Man who swindled $180,000 from women on dating site jailed by Victorian court – 1 December 2023
Rick McLeod, 74, convinced four women he met through a dating site to invest through his so-called broker business.
Over a two-year period, the four women each sent McLeod large sums of money, which McLeod used to fund his drinking and gambling habits. McLeod will serve just under four years in jail before being eligible for parole, and has been ordered to pay one of the victims $78,000 in compensation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-01/dating-site-conman-jailed-scamming-women/103178116
Mother and daughter who scammed two Victorian TAFEs sentenced to jail and community corrections orders – 4 December 2023
Rebecca Taylor and Heather Snelleksz scammed more than $2 million from two Victorian TAFEs have been handed jail time and community correction orders. The women claimed training services they did not provide.
Developer facing risk of jail over fraud charge – 4 December 2023
A bankrupt former Gold Coast developer is facing risk of up to 20 years jail after being charged with 20 criminal offences including fraud. Ian Omar Chester had planned to build the first residential apartments on the ritzy Sovereign Islands before companies in his Vested group failed.
Frustrations run high for NDIS recipients following estimated $1.4 billion loss to payment errors and fraud – 5 December 2023
An estimated $1.4 billion was lost from the National Disability Insurance Scheme last financial year due to “payment errors” including fraud and over-claiming, a five-fold increase from two years ago. The NDIS minister Bill Shorten is preparing to release the NDIS review later this week, which is expected to outline measures to rein in spending.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-05/ndis-fraud-costs-billion-dollar-loss/103184130
Byron Bay data breach victim has Adidas case dismissed in US court, NBA action looms – 5 December 2023
A Byron Bay woman who was facing nearly $2 million in damages after her data was stolen and her PayPal account breached has had a major win in a United States court. Cyber criminals gained unauthorised access to Sarah Luke’s PayPal account to trade hundreds of counterfeit items, including merchandise from Adidas and the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Tesla whistleblower raises doubts over safety of self-driving cars – 5 December 2023
A Tesla employee has raised fresh concerns over the AI used to control the firm’s self-driving vehicles, claiming the technology is not safe enough to be let out on public roads. Tesla’s assisted driving feature has been under investigation from various agencies.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/tesla-whistleblower-raises-doubts-over-103607237.html
Getting on the front foot to fight cybercrime – 6 December 2023
Despite a growing awareness of invoice fraud and other financial scams, Australian banks still only block 13 per cent of scam payments, with losses for major bank customers exceeding $550 million per year, according to the financial regulator ASIC. The key to staying safe is to ensure this segregation of duties is actually built into systems and workflow.
https://www.afr.com/technology/getting-on-the-front-foot-to-fight-cybercrime-20231127-p5en3o
Guy Sebastian’s former manager Titus Day to face retrial after embezzlement convictions quashed – 6 December 2023
Titus Day (Guy Sebastian’s former manager) was sentenced to four years’ jail after being found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000. Mr Day was released on bail in June after a court upheld one ground of his appeal.
Fraud Offences in Australia – 6 December 2023
Article provides a good summary of fraud offences across Australia, including the general categories of fraud, the ‘essential elements’ (or ingredients) of the offences, and the penalties and defences that may apply.
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/fraud-offences-in-australia/
“Who are you?” – Don’t be scammed by a stranger – 7 December 2023
Impersonation scams have stolen $92 million from Australians and made up more than 70 per cent of reports to Scamwatch from January-September this year. Imposter bond scams were the costliest to date, with $35 million stolen from unsuspecting victims.
https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/8451139/scams-awareness-week-2023-ask-who-are-you/
CommBank and Vodafone share real-time intelligence on SMS scams – 7 December 2023
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is collaborating with Vodafone to share SMS scam intelligence in near real-time, allowing the telco to identify and disrupt scammers while the bank makes proactive blocks on fraudulent payments. The pilot project comes as the latest statistics published by Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre in November 2023 show text messages as the most popular delivery method used by fraudsters,
ChatGPT tool could be abused by scammers and hackers – 7 December 2023
A ChatGPT feature allowing users to easily build their own artificial-intelligence assistants can be used to create tools for cyber-crime. Experts say OpenAI does not have the same rigour as the public versions of ChatGPT, potentially gifting a cutting-edge AI tool to criminals.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/chatgpt-builder-helps-create-scam-000416408.html
How AI is upping scam sophistication – 7 December 2023
The latest weapon in the arsenal of scammers is artificial intelligence generated ‘deepfakes’: videos in which a subject’s face or body has been digitally altered to make them look like someone else. Scammers use celebrity deepfakes for investment scams to facilitate building trust with customer. The best weapon we have to combat scammers, is “remaining alert and having a level of healthy scepticism”.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, accused of failing to pay $2.1m in taxes – 8 December 2023
The Department of Justice has filed new criminal charges against Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, accusing him of failing to pay $US1.4 million ($2.1 million) in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted on the charges.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-08/hunter-biden-facing-up-to-seventeen-years-in-prison/103206462
Police raids, criminal gangs and $1 billion: Inside the gold scam that made a fortune off a GST loophole – 1 December 2023
Article tells how the gold refining sector was the target of an international GST rort involving dodgy gold traders and organised criminal syndicates that exploited loopholes in our GST laws. The ATO issued retrospective assessments for GST to most of the refining industry and most didn’t have the funds to challenge the ATO, but the Pallion Group did.
Scammers turn to QR codes as banks warn of Christmas dange – 12 December 2023
Banks and consumer groups are warning that Christmas-time scams are on the rise, but criminals are turning to a new way of stealing personal data using COVID-era QR codes whereby malicious links are hidden in QR codes.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/consumer/2023/12/12/scam-qr-codes
Man charged over alleged SMS phishing scam responsible for sending over 17 million fraudulent text messages – 13 December 2023
Cybercrime Squad detectives have charged a man following an investigation into an SMS phishing scam, allegedly responsible for sending over 17 million fraudulent text messages pretending to be from Linkt and Aus Post. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) boxes, which are an electronic device used to send bulk text messages across the Australian telecommunications network were allegedly used.
