 Friday, May 09, 2008 ( 7:24 AM ) Michele # Wednesday, May 07, 2008 ( 10:51 AM ) Andy ID Spoofers Suffer The Federal Trade Commission announced that the first telemarketers who were ID spoofing were fined, liable for $530,000 in damages and barred from continuing this activity. ID Spoofing is a process where the caller sends a false signal as to where the call is originating. There were two individuals and one corporate defendant barred because of violating the Do Not Call rules as they attempted to sell mortgage loans, refinancings, and other products. Srikanth Venkataraman, doing business as Scorpio Systems didn't pay for access to the Do Not Call List, did call some numbers that were on the list, and faked the caller ID system. # Thursday, March 13, 2008 ( 8:19 AM ) Andy There is a New $5 Bill in Town The FRB is placing the new $5 bills into circulation today. This newly designed currency incorporates new security features. If you hold the new $5 bill to the light, you'll see a watermark and a security thread. Here is a description from the FRB of these new features:
The MoneyFactory is a website from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This site has images and excellent descriptions of the new bill. # Tuesday, March 11, 2008 ( 4:45 PM ) Andy Need Another Regulator -- How About the FBI CNN reports that the FBI is in the early stages of an investigation of Countrywide's underwriting and mortgage origination practices, and whether their losses on subprime mortgages had been misrepresented. "The FBI has been investigating potential fraud in the mortgage/sub-prime lending industry, however, we can not confirm or deny which companies are under investigation," said an FBI spokesman. Separately, a law enforcement official indicated there were 16 companies being investigated. # Monday, September 17, 2007 ( 10:01 AM ) Andy Zero-Loss Guarantee for Online Banking Customers Obviously New Zealand banking laws will differ from that in the United States. But I don't think the customer's expectations will differ that much. In New Zealand, a customers liability from online fraud is greater when they are not using up to date software. How would the bank know? They have the right to inspect it. Somehow I see many cries over privacy if that is enforced, at least here in the states. Westpac Bank has openly said it will not inspect its customers computers for up to date software. More to the point, they have a new "promise to pay" guarantee for their online customers. Stu Woollett , Westpac's E-business head, said their customers would always be reimbursed for fraudulent transactions as long they were not knowingly using a computer that was loaded with malicious software, they didn't leave their computer unattended or share or write down their passwords. Those customers will obviously see less risk when they bank online. One would hope that customers would act prudently and keep software up to date. While so much of this seems like common sense, I would be afraid that the losses would be like many Reg E claim on steroids. Good for the customer, but it scares me just the same. # |
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