FinancialCrimeRiskOfficers.com

The facts of the case are just odd. The recipient of a bribe has been jailed and ordered to pay a fine of five times the amount of the bribe. But it's what the bribe was for that beggars belief

Just because a CFO has his hand on the cheque book doesn't mean he can write cheques for anything he likes.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has been looking at how prices at petrol pumps move, with changes taking place in what, on the face of it, seems in concert. But, the ACCC says, there is in fact no evidence of collusion: it's simply price-watching and price-matching between operators. And if consumers take advantage of hints, there could be an enormous injection of discretionary spending from disposable income or a reduction in credit card debt across the country.

The news, then, is that what might have been suspected as a crime is not a crime at all.

There is a fascinating case before the US Supreme Court relating to confiscation of assets used in furtherance of a crime as distinct from proceeds of criminal conduct. Oral argument took place last week and there is a transcript and recording here:

https://www.oyez.org/cases/201...

This morning's collection of spam raises several issues that should interest an extremely broad range of people across organisations.

It's a spam, it uses Standard Chartered as a hook to entice victims to be defrauded, and it's hilariously awful. Note phone number +447452282904 and email address lrbernal@easynet.es and that the reply is to privacy e-mail service ProtonMail at taxmattersjon@protonmail.ch . But the most interesting thing is this: the e-mail provider easynet.es correctly identified this as spam, even as " advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)" - then allowed it to pass. Is the provider complicit if anyone becomes a victim?

The fraud is old hat. The bitcoin address is, presumably, valid and enforcement agencies may wish to track and attack it. And, of course, any financial institution which has records of it should identify it as a suspicious account.

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It's that time again: PayPal spam-scam time. But even by the standards of badly constructed spam-scams, this one is bad. So bad it's funny and so bad that anyone who falls victim to it may just be too stupid to live. But the bigger danger is that it's not a phishing scam but a way of placing malware on victims' computers and if that happens they are being human not stupid.

It's a story that has grabbed the headlines - a week after it was first published. One suspects that there was much fact-checking going on before a New York Times article that says US President Trump "participated..in outright fraud," a statement of such extraordinary bluntness that the mere fact that it appears in print is at least as shocking as the allegation itself. There are so many things to consider but in FinancialCrimeRiskOfficers.com, we are interested in a relatively narrow aspect of the story...

Identity fraud is usually a relatively unsophisticated operation. Usually, but not always. Kenneth Gibson of Reno, Nevada, USA, was not a usual suspect.

Image courtesy USA FBI Las Vegas field office.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has issued warnings relating to fake websites and/or phishing attacks on customers of three banks: China Citic, OCBC Wing Hang and Bank of China.

It would be nice if the US Department of Justice wrote its media releases in correct English. In this case, despite what the DoJ says, the defendant did not "attempt to extort a marijuana dispensary," he attempted to extort money from the owners of the dispensary. And you thought the only problems California's relaxed attitude to the retailing of MaryJane was how the operators would bank their money. No, the operators are exposed to bad guys wearing suits just as much as bad guys wearing bling and carrying weapons.

(Free sample content)

Most spam-scams are just too stupid for words. This one is even worse. Have fun with it.... and see why companies such as yahoo and google should be required to monitor anonymous e-mail accounts, if not for content but for obviously fake identities.

**Free Content**

In Malaysia, one of the successes of former Prime Minister Najib is something he won't get credit for - and something which is so ironic that it's almost hypocritical. But it's very, very welcome anyway.

"Attention: Nigel Morris-Cotterill

This is an exclusive notification from the District Court of Basel-Stadt (Strafgericht des Kantons Basel-Stadt).
We regret to inform you that your identity has been compromised in an identity theft scheme recently uncovered here in Switzerland."

I am soooooooooooo convinced.