Answer:
Answer by Sharon Lewis, BOL Guru
Here's the latest type of fraud we've seen. Financial institution processes a draft from a credit card company on a commercial customer account. When the commercial customer receives the draft in their account statement, they notify the financial institution that the draft is unauthorized. The financial institution returns the draft to the credit card company as a "fraudulent" item. The credit card company refuses the late return. Upon further discussion, the credit card company instructs the financial institution to send a "hold harmless" letter and upon receipt they might reimburse amount of draft.
Financial institution should have returned the draft, upon customer notification, as "unauthorized".
What a scheme! Here's what's behind it:
Individual opens credit card account (possibly using false or impersonated identity) and makes purchases and/or cash advances to the credit limit. When the credit card company calls the individual to collect on the account, they offer to auto-debit the card holder's checking account for the payment due. The card holder provides not his own checking account information, but instead furnishes the account information of a commercial-type checking account (one they know has enough funds to cover the amount of the draft). The draft is processed without exception and the credit card company receives their payment (providing the commercial checking account customer is not on positive pay). This allows the card holder to make additional transactions until the card reaches its limit again, or until the credit card company halts activity due to the discovered fraud.
In this scenario, cash advances on the credit card would eliminate any merchandise purchase trail.
Who needs counterfeit checks??
Answer:
Answer by Dana Turner, BOL Guru
The Nigerians and the Ghanans are both running similar schemes, with:
- Email being used just as often as "real" mail;
- Actual telephone contact being made with intended victims who respond; and
- Institutions offering Internet banking being targeted for the opening of new checking accounts -- with the common stolen and forged checks being deposited.
Senior citizens scams -- particularly the bank examiner schemes -- and more popular. Offering certificates of deposits in exchange for life insurance policies is an up-and-coming "Ponzi" scheme. Home repair fraud schemes are most active in the Spring -- which is just around the corner.
ID theft is a huge problem right now. The federal government has amultiagency Web site called Consumer Sentinelthat received 80,000 complaints last year. Of those, 23% were reports of stolen Social Security numbers or credit card accounts. Identity theft is listed as the #1 consumer fraud complaint for last year.
Answer:
Answer:Ergonomics Program Standards scams. OSHA promulgated the final standards and everyone (lawyers, HR consultants, occupational therapists, etc.) is coming out of the woodwork with ways in which employers can spend money setting up compliance programs. The trouble with all this is, based upon the number of lawsuits challenging the standards, it looks as though they are never going to "see the light of day" from an enforcement standpoint. I advise that employers wait to see if the ergonomics program standards hold up, before spending money developing a compliance program.
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Answer by Barry Thompson, BOL Guru
The latest scam I've heard about involves crooks placing an additional card-swiping device on ATMs with a sign that tells customers to swipe their cards on the second device for extra security. The device records the customer's account number, along with the PIN punched in, paving the way for the criminals to produce duplicate cards to access the accounts. If your institution operates ATMs, be on the lookout for these bogus swiping devices.
First published on BankersOnline.com 2/5/01
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