20 stories this week:
‘If you don’t understand it, don’t use it’: How to protect your crypto (posted 20 January 2022)
According to national competition regulator the ACCC, more than $35 million was lost in Australia to cryptocurrency scams by mid-2021. Cryptocurrency is vulnerable because everyone wants to get in early and make a buck in the online economy. Article details how to protect your cryptocurrency but also states if you don’t understand it – don’t use it.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/01/20/cryptocurrency-cyber-security/
Why organizations mustn’t ignore the threat of voice fraud (posted 21 January 2022)
Phone crime has an obvious appeal over direct physical crime, as the offender is well out of harm’s way and the more skilled criminals make themselves very difficult to trace. Commonly, fraudsters bank on social engineering techniques to aid them in their goal of tricking call center agents or consumers into handing over information. Article looks at how artificial intelligence and machine learning help organizations to combat voice fraud.
https://www.techradar.com/au/features/why-organizations-mustnt-ignore-the-threat-of-voice-fraud
Addresses oversight and over-reach risks of Australian laws (posted 21 January 2022)
“Everyday Australians” have more to fear from surveillance carried out by ‘big tech’ and private companies than from government and intelligence agencies, according to Home Affairs boss Michael Pezzullo. Home Affairs is currently leading a major consultation around replacing a “patchwork” of surveillance and interception laws with a single, technology neutral Act. Pezzullo said that the government wanted to produce legislation that would set a standard for “self-restraining surveillance”.
Australians lost a record $323 million to scams in 2021 (posted 21 January 2022)
Money lost to scams almost doubled in one year, with more than 286,000 Aussies reporting they were scammed last year. These figures represent a ‘significant’ increase of 84% compared to 2020, when Aussies lost $175.6 million through the year. Investment scams accounted for $177 million, followed by dating and romance scams which saw people losing $52 million.
https://www.savings.com.au/news/scamwatch-2021
The Hollywood Con Queen lured hundreds of people into a bizarre scam, but the biggest twist was yet to come (posted 23 January 2022)
The scam of luring creative artists to Indonesia from all over the world – actors, movie producers, make-up artists, photographers etc. went on for years. As the scam grew in its scale and audacity, it became clear a sophisticated fraudster was impersonating powerful women. Finally, after Nicoletta Kotsianas and the K2 investigators had gathered a critical mass of evidence, proving the magnitude of the scam and the scale of the total monetary losses – well over $1.39 million – the FBI stepped in. Hargobind Punjabi Tahilramani, a 41-year-old Indonesian man has now been charged with several counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-23/hollywood-con-queen-scam/100741998
COVID drives up scams, ethics down for Australian business (posted 23 January 2022)
Has the lucky country become the dodgy country? It’s hard to escape that conclusion from the latest Global Integrity Report from accounting and consulting group EY, which positions Australia an outlier in terms of both suffering from, and perpetrating, unethical behaviour.
(Access to digital version of AFR required to read articlae.)
When it comes to sexual assault, safety apps aren’t the answer (posted 24 January 2022)
“Walk Me Home” and similar apps, has been rightly lamented by critics as another Band-Aid solution that (again) places the onus on women to protect themselves, and ultimately fails to tackle the root cause of male violence. A good controversial article about using technology as a solution to victims of crime before it occurs.
Crypto fraudster Stefan Qin reveals why he stole $123m (posted 24 January 2022)
A Canberra-born crypto crook who swindled $123 million from investors has given a tell-all interview about why he did it, before entering prison. Stefan Qin was found guilty of deliberately misleading Australian and US investors and falsifying account statements while running his crypto outfit Virgil Sigma Fund.
The Price of Speaking Out: Australia’s Hostile Environment for Whistleblowers (posted 27 January 2022)
Gerd Schroder-Turk was sued for millions of dollars after he spoke up about the treatment of students at Murdoch University. The article outlines that whilst the government is making moves towards bringing the public sector in line with the private, the current internal protections for private sector disclosures are “inadequate” and “largely imaginary.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg5yk/australias-hostile-environment-whistleblowers
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise wins multi-billion-dollar fraud suit against UK tech tycoon Michael Lynch (posted 29 January 2022)
Technology company Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has won a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against a British businessmen it accused of fraud after purchasing his software business, Autonomy, a decade ago. Mr Lynch and Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, were accused of artificially inflating the company’s revenues
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-29/hewlett-packard-fraud-suit-michael-lynch-autonomy/100789874
Death threats, ghost researchers and sock puppets: Inside the weird, wild world of dodgy academic research (posted 31 January 2022)
Former Swinburne University academic Ali Nazari has had 86 papers retracted and Ehsan Mohseni from the University of Newcastle, has also had several papers withdrawn. Unlike many other countries, Australia has no national office for research integrity.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-31/on-the-trail-of-dodgy-academic-research/100788052
Former BRADAAG CEO denies allegations of misusing funds, bullying staff at Tennant Creek rehab service (posted 31 January 2022)
Northern Territory government authorities have confirmed they are investigating allegations that the former Chief Executive a critical alcohol rehabilitation service, misused its resources and bullied an employee.
Caught up in the great buy now, pay later scam (posted 31 January 2022)
Identity theft and buy now pay later schemes.
(Access to digital version of AFR required to read article.)
Financial advisor jailed for Dishonestly Obtaining Financial Advantage by Deception (posted 1 February 2022)
A former financial advisor Ahmed Saad has been sentenced to jail for dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception after unlawfully giving clients early access to their superannuation funds.
Ex-RAAF man in court over fraud of 95y (posted 2 February 2022)
Partlin, of Birkdale, Brisbane, allegedly dishonestly induced a 95 year old man to part with $680,000 over three months in 2020 and allegedly accessed the man’s bank account stealing $20,000.
https://www.northernbeachesreview.com.au/story/7604966/ex-raaf-man-in-court-over-fraud-of-95yo/
Queensland whistleblowers need better protection, Logan Mayor Darren Power says (posted 2 February 2022)
The Mayor of Logan Darren Power says Queensland needs better protections for whistleblowers. His comments come after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk appointed Tony Fitzgerald to conduct an inquiry into the structure and powers of Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).
Former Canberra Vodafone shop owner Mohit Arora avoids jail after allowing his customers to be defrauded (posted 3 February 2022)
Mohit Arora allowed criminals to steal the personal details of his Vodafone store customers has avoided time in prison. The criminal group stole the identities to set up fake credit cards and loans in 2019 and 2020.
Australian mining billionaire files lawsuit against Facebook over scam ads (posted 3 February 2022)
Iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest is launching criminal proceedings against Meta Platform (Facebook) in an Australian court, alleging that it breached anti-money laundering laws and its platform is used to scam Australians. He is alleging Facebook “failed to create controls or a corporate culture to prevent its systems being used to commit crime.
Meta accused by whistleblower of skimping on safety in Australia (posted 3 February 2022)
According to former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen, Meta is underinvesting in the safety and security of its social media platforms in overseas markets, meaning there is less avenues for recourse available to Australians. The whistleblower states the company’s budget “disproportionately” favoured the United States.
Big banks fight push for billions of dollars in scam refunds (posted 3 February 2022)
ASIC is currently reviewing the ePayments code, a voluntary code of practice that contains consumer protections for electronic payments, in a process that has been plagued by delays. However, Australia’s major banks are fighting a push from regulators to force them to refund billions of dollars lost in online scams, arguing requirements to bear the costs of internet fraud could create complacency among consumers and lead to even more losses.
