The Federal Trade Commission's yearly report for 2007 stated that over 30 million people in the United States were victimized by some type of fraudulent crime. Over 9 million people saw their personal identities stolen and used by a fraud perpetrator. Millions of others---including businesses---saw their financial accounts compromised by a fraud perpetrator. Strictly speaking, fraud is big business. Are you one of its customers? Everyone is vulnerable to some type of fraudulent crime, but you can take the steps necessary to avoid becoming a victim. Based on actual events, cases, and investigations, Stealing You Blind, describes numerous fraudulent criminal activities taking place today in the United States and throughout the rest of the world, and offers you important tips and advice on how to reduce your susceptibility to such crimes. Drawing upon years of experience as a fraud detective, K.A. Farner reveals some key components of many fraud schemes. The crimes discussed include: Identity theft Internet loan scams Credit card theft Internet auction scams Check fraud And much more Remember: knowledge is power! Arm yourself with the facts and minimize your chances of falling for one of these crimes with Stealing You Blind. AUTHOR BIO Detective K.A. Farner is a retired Atlanta Police Department fraud detective and a former member of the United States Secret Service Organized Fraud Task Force. He has participated in joint investigations with the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs, Federal Bureau of Investigations, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Postal Inspections, and the United States Secret Service.

$TEALING YOU BLIND

TRICKS OF THE FRAUD TRADEBy K. A. FARNER

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 K. A. Farner
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-3952-9

Contents

Chapter One Fraudulent Crimes.......................................................1Chapter Two The Fraud Perpetrator...................................................3Chapter Three Scams..................................................................7Chapter Four Schemes................................................................12Chapter Five Identity Fraud.........................................................16Chapter Six Credit Card Fraud.......................................................29Chapter Seven Counterfeit Checks and Counterfeit Check Rings........................46Chapter Eight Counterfeit Currency..................................................58Chapter Nine ATM Thefts.............................................................60Chapter Ten Internet Loan Scams and Advanced Fee Scams..............................63Chapter Eleven Internet Auctions....................................................71Chapter Twelve The Pet Scam.........................................................75Chapter Thirteen Slick and Quick....................................................80Chapter Fourteen The Lottery Ticket and Sweepstakes Scam............................84Chapter Fifteen Mortgage Fraud......................................................88Chapter Sixteen The Drug Nexus......................................................94Chapter Seventeen Nigerian Fraud....................................................100Chapter Eighteen The Pigeon Drop....................................................108Chapter Nineteen The Office Manager: Employer's Beware..............................112Chapter Twenty Consumer Fraud.......................................................115Chapter Twenty-One Corporate Fraud..................................................118Chapter Twenty-Two Employee Thefts and Fraudulent Acts..............................121Chapter Twenty-Three The Fake Employment Scam.......................................126Chapter Twenty-Four Government Fraud................................................130Chapter Twenty-Five Contractor Fraud and Home Improvement Fraud.....................135Chapter Twenty-Six Insurance Fraud..................................................139Chapter Twenty-Seven The Sleight of Hand Scam.......................................142Chapter Twenty-Eight Civil vs. Criminal.............................................144Chapter Twenty-Nine Fake Identification Cards.......................................149Chapter Thirty Investigations.......................................................152Chapter Thirty-One Protecting Yourself..............................................155

Chapter One

Fraudulent Crimes

This book is not intended to make the fraud perpetrator a better criminal or to teach those the methods of a law enforcement investigation. The fraudulent activities mentioned in the following chapters are well known among the majority of con men, scam artists, and fraud perpetrators. According to the Federal Trade Commission or FTC, in excess of 30 million people in the United States in 2007 were victimized by some type of fraudulent criminal incident. If a person takes in to account other related incidents such as counterfeit check fraud and credit card fraud, for example, the number of victims in the United States in astonishing. Each year, more and more people fall victim to these perpetrators. This book was written to inform the general public some of the fraudulent activities, scams, and cons that are present in our every day society. I have always believed that when people are knowledgeable about certain crimes, the less susceptible they are to becoming a victim of one.

The fraud perpetrator uses several different factors to his or her advantage. For the most part, he or she is an actor of deception. Fraud can be explained as stealing by use of deceptive means. In the case of identity fraud, the fraud perpetrator will pretend to be someone else using the victim's personal and financial information to obtain credit, merchandise, and services. The scam artist or con man will often pretend to be someone such as an executive or owner of a business, banker, lawyer, or investment broker when, in fact, he is just playing the part to deceive you of your money. At other times, though, the suspect can be employed in a professional setting and, for one reason or another, decides to defraud others through the use of deceptive means.

Fraudulent criminal acts often require the element of secrecy. With this, the fraud perpetrator can go on deceiving others before the con, scam, or scheme will not work. Credit card fraud, for example, is only successful when the victims are unaware of the fraud. Once the card or card number has been discovered as having been compromised and reported as stolen, the suspects know that he or she cannot use the card for merchandise and/or services. This is why most perpetrators will immediately use a stolen credit card after a theft. This criminal also knows that his or her chance of being detected and arrested increase with time. Fraud suspects might work a particular scam in one area for a short time and then pick up and move somewhere else to work the same exact scam. At other times, knowledge of working scams and cons are passed between perpetrators in different parts of the nation. Some types of fraudulent activity will be re-invented after a period of time when people have let the guard down.

Claims have been made that you can prevent fraudulent criminal acts such as identity fraud but the truth is that it cannot be prevented. Your personal information as well as your financial information can be obtained by these perpetrators even if you take every precaution. The information is available and the fraud perpetrator armed with the right resources can and will find the weak link in the system. I do believe that a person can deter a lot of criminal behavior and even limit the amount of losses and headaches associated with these fraudulent criminal acts when they do become victimized. By knowing what frauds, cons, and scams that perpetrators have committed in the past and present, a person gains the knowledge needed to recognize these for what they are.

These criminal activities have been around for a very long time. Swindlers, con artists, and cheats have been in existence ever since the invention of currency. There are those in each society and within each period of time who prey upon others. In the late twentieth century and now in the twenty-first century, these crimes have increased dramatically. Fraudulent related criminal activities and incidents probably occur as much as all of the other crimes combined. These crimes are far less likely to be reported than most other types of crimes. This may be true because the victim feels that it often more of a hassle to report the incident or perhaps the victim does not want the incident known to anyone. Some businesses will only report a small percentage of crime and will keep the investigation "in house", so to speak. The actual number of fraud related incidents is constantly on the rise and the true amount of these incidents throughout the United States remains unknown and can only be estimated. Fraud related criminal statistics are now gathering much more attention than the same statistics from 10 years ago. Law enforcement and the general public have...