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LIFELOCK unbolted

US company Lifelock which capitalised on people's fears about identity theft have been branded a scam by the Federal Trade Commission and ordered to pay back $12 million back to its customers. The company promised to protect clients from fraudsters by placing alerts with financial companies. The best bit was CEO Todd Davis use of his social security number in advertising campaigns to prove his confidence in the service. It turns out someone used it to take out a $500 loan in his name in 2007. Read the story here on Wired. I suppose it's another version of the investigator who offers to get your cash back from a 419er for a fee.

SMALL'S Big House

This is a bit late, but just in case you haven't seen this report it's worth checking out the house a fraudster built. Builders' merchant Gerard Small from Tyrone, Northern Ireland, defrauded revenue of st£4.5 million in unpaid tax and false claims for family credits. He preferred to splash it all on his ornate house. He even held an open-day so neighbours could come in and gawk. Have a look at the pictures here on the BBC.

SLOW burn Bernie

I've moaned about how slow things are to move against Irish fraudsters when compared to how quick the US authorities moved against Bernie Madoff. His sons blew the whistle in October 2008 and by March 2009 he was serving a life sentence. There's nothing like the immediate threat of jail to uncover any hidden stashes of money. But it seems the US financial watchdogs have not covered themselves in glory. Self-confessed 'Greek geek' Harry Markopolos has written No One Would Listen about his ten year battle to expose Madoff as a fraud. He was pointing the finger long before Madoff was forced to admit he was a conman. Check out this very interesting extract here.

AIB and fraud

Two men have now been charged with one of the UK's biggest property frauds which saw Allied Irish Banks lose st£56 million. Achilleas Kollakis persuaded the bankers he was a big player in the property market. He got loans thanks to having blue-chip tenants for various properties (such as UK government agencies.) The claims were fake or exaggerated. Read the press release from the Serious Fraud Office here and follow the links through a previous post for more information on Kollakis' colourful life.

EASY money

There was an interesting case in today's Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where a guy showed how easy it can be to steal money from a bank. The only drawback for Limerick man, Pat Sheedy (40), of Cliona Park, Moyross, was that he got caught. In 2007 he set up a bank account in Dublin to enable the fictitious transfer of cash from his non-existent company in the UK and then used an overdraft to gamble away over €10,000 of the bank's money. He used his real passport and a reference from his real employer to set up the sting. Sheedy, who has 25 previous convictions is now awaiting sentence.

BOGUS smokes

Irish Revenue today seized a big consignment of smuggled cigarettes which they 'conservatively' estimate to amount to 28 million cigarettes. While the Regal brand seized are the real thing, part of the cargo includes counterfeit Superkings. Read about it here on RTE. A billion cigarettes are smuggled into Ireland every year of which the tobacco industry estimate a third of which are counterfeit cigarettes rolled and packaged in black market factories. Read the previous posts on Ireland's black market tobacco trade here.