Articles about Fraud

As Americans lose billions of dollars to digital scams, startups turn to AI for solutions

It was a scam you may have heard of. The caller claimed to be a relative in trouble — in… Read More

Washington State Dept. of Transportation warns ‘Good to Go!’ customers of bill-paying scam

The Washington State Department of Transportation is warning Good to Go! customers to be on the lookout for fraudulent emails… Read More

Former director at Seattle auto marketplace startup indicted on $2M wire fraud charges

The former director of auto marketplace startup Tred was indicted this week by a federal grand jury in Seattle on… Read More

Former employee of Seattle startup accused of embezzling $2M in company funds

U.S. law enforcement authorities last week arrested a former employee of a Seattle startup who allegedly funneled more than $2… Read More

Seattle-area tech exec gets 2 years in prison in $5.5M scheme to defraud COVID relief program

A Seattle-area tech executive who attempted to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief loans through the Paycheck Protection Program was sentenced… Read More

Dept. of Justice credits Microsoft with identifying tech-support fraud scheme that targeted seniors

The perpetrators of an online tech-support fraud scheme, originally brought to the attention of U.S. authorities by Microsoft, have been… Read More

Another Seattle-area resident charged for COVID-related relief fraud

Federal authorities charged a Seattle-area man on Tuesday with one count of wire fraud after he submitted fake applications for… Read More

Amazon and J.L. Childress file suit against alleged counterfeiters in ongoing fraud battle

Amazon announced another lawsuit against alleged counterfeiters Thursday, part of the company’s ongoing strategy to portray a tough-on-fraud image. Amazon… Read More

Justice Department seizes websites used to trick Amazon customers into buying device tech support

Federal officials have seized six fraudulent websites that were part of an online scheme to deceive customers who were looking… Read More

Amazon tests using live video calls to vet aspiring third-party sellers, seeking to weed out fraudsters

Amazon has been quietly piloting an “enhanced vetting” process for prospective third-party sellers on Amazon.com, supplementing the normal online submission… Read More

Amazon sues e-commerce ‘coaches,’ alleging they taught underhanded tactics to sellers

Amazon is accusing two California men of swindling aspiring third-party sellers with promises of learning the secrets of making a… Read More

Former NFL player gets a year in prison for wire fraud against Capital One-owned brokerage ShareBuilder

A former NFL player was sentenced to a year in prison for a “kickback scheme” that prosecutors say defrauded his… Read More

Amazon unveils new ‘IP Accelerator’ to battle fraud on its platform, help sellers trademark products

Amazon’s quest to stamp out fraud on its online retail platform is getting a jolt as the tech giant today… Read More

In lawsuit, Amazon takes on ‘unlawful advertising scheme’ that mimics its branding and trademarks

Amazon alleges in a new lawsuit that a group of unnamed individuals used the tech giant’s name, trademarks and branding… Read More

Former Microsoft exec sentenced to 28 months in prison for Super Bowl ticket and invoice fraud

A federal judge sentenced Jeff Tran, a former director of sports marketing at Microsoft, to 28 months in prison for… Read More

Scammers impersonate Amazon customer support in new scheme as robocalls surge

Americans received 26.3 billion spam calls in 2018, roughly 80 times the entire population of the United States. Robocalls and… Read More

Ex-Microsoft exec pleads guilty to fraud in $1.5M Super Bowl ticket and invoice scheme

Jeff Tran, a former director of sports marketing at Microsoft, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and attempting to steal more… Read More

Birkenstock CEO goes after Amazon over fake footwear, calls e-commerce giant ‘an accomplice’

A year after walking away from its relationship with Amazon in the U.S., the German shoemaker Birkenstock is again targeting… Read More

Equifax hack, one week later: What really happened, and what you should do to protect yourself

I can tell from the email I’m getting — and, honestly, from friends calling me and even stopping me at… Read More

San Francisco’s Sift Science opens new Seattle engineering center, led by Amazon vet

Sift Science, a heavily-funded San Francisco-based company that builds software to fight fraud online, is opening up a Seattle outpost,… Read More

Why critics call the imminent credit card chip system in the U.S. ‘a joke’

The way Americans spend money is on the verge of its biggest change in decades, but the drumbeat of doubters… Read More

Scammer takes revenge on apartment hunter by plastering her number all over Trulia listings

Anyone who’s tried using the Internet to rent an apartment knows it’s a cesspool of scams and fake listings. But… Read More

MOD Systems founder wins reversal on mail fraud conviction, loses in other areas

The continuing saga of MOD Systems co-founder Mark E. Phillips, who was sentenced to four years in prison in July… Read More

Dutch hacker ‘Fortezza’ extradited to U.S. on 14 counts

David Benjaim Schrooten, a 21-year-old Dutch computer hacker who operates under the name “Fortezza,” is scheduled to make his first… Read More

Google pays $10M for TeraHop patents: Sale to help investors in fraud case recoup cash

Big technology companies are searching everywhere for patents, looking to protect themselves from future litigation. Now, Google has emerged as… Read More

Seattle financial advisor indicted for funneling $46M into his startup ventures

Mark Spangler, a 57-year-old Seattle financial advisor who formerly served as head of the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors,… Read More

Daily deal site Tippr offers a full refund after duped by fake Bose headsets

In what CEO Martin Tobias described as the company’s first mass refund, Seattle daily deal site Tippr has apologized to… Read More

Ex-Microsoft employee sentenced to two years in prison for embezzlement

Randal Ray Seal, a 54-year-old former analyst in Microsoft’s accounts payable department, has been sentenced to two years in prison… Read More

MOD Systems founder Mark Phillips sentenced to four years in prison

Seattle entrepreneur Mark Phillips was sentenced Friday morning to four years in prison for defrauding MOD Systems and lying to… Read More

MOD Systems shuts down as prosecutors suggest 97 month jail term for founder Mark Phillips

Federal prosecutors want to lock up MOD Systems founder Mark Phillips for more than eight years after the high-tech executive… Read More