Buying a car should be simple.So should online dating. Or paying an outstanding bill over the internet.But, like so many things today, simple, mundane tasks have become prime targets for fraud arti…
So should online dating. Or paying an outstanding bill over the internet.
This reporter emailed back — at first expressing genuine interest — and the seller replied claiming he was in the military stationed at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, but would be shipping out to join “Operation Impact” in the Middle East for a year. As a result, he needed to sell the vehicle. He said his name was Lt.-Col. Daniel Weiss.
There is no Daniel Weiss registered in Canadian military systems, according to officials with the Canadian Armed Forces. But that doesn’t mean the name is fake. A search for “Daniel Weiss” on Google brings up more than 70 million results. Among those results are several links for U.S. Army veteran Daniel Weiss who served with the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan in 2005. Weiss was deployed three times, according to a blog post on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.
He did not ask for money. Instead, he asked for a name, mailing address and an email address to forward to the company through which he claimed to be selling the car. It’s all very intricate and a lot to unpack, especially for someone who doesn’t have their guard up. That’s all part of the scammer’s plan.
“WXK Stormonth Logistics acquires European transportation and logistics provider,” read one headline on a webpage that looked like it came from The Canadian Business Journal, with an almost identical logo and a similar interface. The article claimed Stormonth had purchased P&O Ferries, a large provider of ferry services to France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Another post claiming to be from Canadian Business magazine , said: “For LTL truck pricing WXX Stormonth Logistics turns to AI.” To make them look even more legitimate, the fake news articles all linked back to the real publications’ home pages. If a web surfer found the fake Canadian Business article, then clicked “home,” they would have been taken to Canadian Business’ actual webpage.
When this reporter returned to the scammer to inquire about the vehicle, another email account jumped into the conversation. Someone claiming to be “Amanda Baurer” responded demanding the purchase price of the vehicle to cover the “vehicle price, the delivery costs and all other expenses.” The money was to be sent by e-transfer or Western Union. After they received the funds, the money would be held in “escrow,” Baurer said. More links are provided explaining the escrow process.
This reporter sent another email to the scammer on April 30, with a link to Internet Protocol address-capturing software that was disguised to look like an e-transfer of funds. IP addresses are like mailing addresses on the internet, and can be used to reveal actual home addresses and online activity. The fraudster clicked the link on May 5, and revealed that their IP address was registered to a residential account in Austin, Texas.Autotrader.
If recent trends are any indication, things are about to get much worse. The FBI in the U.S. recently released its annual Internet Crime Report for 2018. It found that the number of complaints at its Internet Crime Complaint Center — which captures calls regarding internet-enabled theft, fraud, and exploitation — totalled 351,937 in 2018. Those complainants lost more than $2.7 billion to online criminals last year.
“In today’s complex digital landscape, hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, which means it’s becoming more difficult to tell real from fake, phishing from friendly,” said Rob Fodor, chief data scientist and vice-president of fraud at Interac in a release.Canadians reported a total of $97.7 million stolen as a result of online fraud in 2018. The amount is an increase over the $86.3 million in 2017 and a marked increase from the $83.3 million in 2016.
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