Hundreds of Victims of Romance Scams

Almost 400 Canadians complained they were victims of international ripoff schemes involving "romance" last year, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Victims reported losing almost $3.5 million, with more than a third of the money lost by victims between the ages of 40 and 49. One octogenarian victim reported losing $20,000.

"It's the kind of scam that's not reported," said Cpl. Louis Robertson of the fraud centre.

Robertson said 586 people complained to the fraud centre that they had been approached in a romance scheme, with 390 reporting they lost money.

The corporal said that likely reflects only a tiny portion of actual victims, perhaps as few as five per cent of people swindled by Internet romancers.

He said that given the nature of the crime, many feel too embarrassed to come forward.

original article here

Search for Suspect Who Sent Topless Pics to Woman's Office

(FLORIDA, U.S.A.) A woman who works at a Bonita Springs medical practice told Lee deputies she arrived to work Monday and found four facsimiles in the machine – of a picture she took of herself topless.

The woman, whose name and other information was not released, said the photo was the same one contained on her home computer that she took after she’d lost some weight, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report. She never sent the photos to anyone, she told deputies.

She believes a man who wants to date her is responsible for hacking into her computer. She doesn’t want anything to do with the man, according to the report.

She does not know where the man lives, but told deputies where he works.

Deputies are investigating the incident as a cyber stalking complaint.


original article here

Girl gets revenge on ex-boyfriend by spamming Google with his image

NOTE!!: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT ONLINE (forums, online dating, Facebook, etc) about Yourself and ANYONE else!!! - Sometimes even GOOGLE can't remove it!

It may be a tale as old as time but, in a modern version of 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', a teenage boy's ex-girlfriend has wreaked her revenge by spamming Google with his image.

Using a picture of hapless Jack Weppler, his former partner has pasted his image all over the search engine under such unloving messages such as 'I can't read', claiming unfashionable rocker Kenny Loggins 'is my saviour' and he's working in the gym 'on my two pack'.

He comes in for further ridicule with an assessment of his fashion sense: 'V-necks. Mom jeans' and the camp avowal 'This diva needs his stage', alongside dozens of others which are not fit to print.

The cyber-attack has left him 'stressed out and embarrassed', according to his mother, who apparently wrote to Google's webmaster help forum for advice on how to remove the images.

She wrote: 'My minor son's ex-girlfriend took a copyrighted picture of him (we own copyright) and uploaded it more than 60 times to a website.

On each image she wrote slanderous, defamatory and pornographic captions.

'The webmaster of the site states he removed the images 6 weeks ago, but Google Search still shows all the images.'

'My son is so stressed out and embarrassed and we've done everything we can to get images off of Google including URL removal tool, a letter to Google Legal with all the URLs because of copyright infringement, and nothing has worked!'

Online commentators have commiserated, but advised that no one should upset a partner with such technical knowledge of search engines.

A Google spokeswoman said: 'We crawl, index and rank millions of web pages everyday, to make content discoverable and searchable for users online.

'To get content removed, users should contact the webmaster or owner of the site where that content appears.

'They can also file a removal request with Google at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals.'

original article here

Charged with Cyberstalking her Mother-in-Law

A Burlington woman was charged Friday with five counts of cyberstalking after she sent out several e-mails accusing her mother-in-law of fraud.

The Alamance County Sheriff’s Department started investigating Kim Ezzell, 31, of Ethans Way, after receiving information through five search warrants that she was allegedly linked to an e-mail sent out multiple times in August and September. Kim Ezzell was placed under $2,500 unsecured bond and will have a first appearance in Alamance County District Court Monday, according to a sheriff’s department news release.

The e-mails Kim Ezzell allegedly sent accused her mother-in-law, Bonnie Ezzell of Haw River, of illegally obtaining benefits from the Alamance County Department of Social Services, the Internal Revenue Service and the Employment Security Commission. It was sent to various people and agencies, including several of Bonnie Ezzell’s family members as well as DSS Director Susan Osborne, Congressman Howard Coble, the Times-News and other media outlets, the Alamance-Burlington School System, the IRS and Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office, according to a search warrant.

After the Times-News received the e-mail in September, it was investigated and published Sept. 6 in a “We Checked It Out” report. The Times-News couldn’t find any agency to confirm that Bonnie Ezzell did anything fraudulent.

Bonnie Ezzell reported to the sheriff’s department on Sept. 11 that an unknown person was sending e-mails to multiple people accusing her of fraud.

The e-mails alleged that Bonnie Ezzell and her daughter Tammy Ezzell were defrauding the IRS; Tammy was renting her children to her mother for the purpose of claiming them as dependents on her tax returns, the e-mail said. Tammy Ezzell allegedly receives benefits from DSS in the form of Medicaid, food stamps and housing.

In addition, the e-mails alleged that Bonnie Ezzell worked at Cindy’s Mini Mart in Haw River and was paid “under the table,” even though she was receiving unemployment benefits. The e-mails were sent multiple times beginning in mid August until about Sept. 22, according to search warrants.

Bonnie Ezzell denied the accusations. She allegedly told authorities that she did work at Cindy’s Mini Mart while receiving unemployment benefits but was reporting those earnings. A DSS investigation found no evidence of fraud, and the IRS doesn’t initiate an investigation unless the loss is $250,000 or greater, according to search warrants.

“None of the allegations levied in the e-mail have been found to have any merit,” the warrants state.

In November, detectives with the sheriff’s department’s crimes and forensic investigations unit obtained search warrants in order to seize Kim Ezzell’s computer at her job at LabCorp on South Spring Street, as well as her home computers. Authorities also seized information from LabCorp about dates and times Kim Ezzell has been at work as well as the company’s policy and procedures regarding use of their computers.

The e-mails were sent from a variety of e-mail addresses but during the investigation, the sheriff’s department was able to link the e-mail addresses to an IP address at LabCorp as well as a Time Warner Cable IP address provided to John Ezzell, who is Kim Ezzell’s husband and Bonnie Ezzell’s son.

Bonnie Ezzell allegedly told authorities that she thought her daughter-in-law was behind the e-mail.

“Bonnie Ezzell states that her daughter-in-law has always been jealous of her, and she suspected that she might have something to do with this,” the search warrants state.

Investigators think that Kim Ezzell allegedly sent the e-mails to “annoy, harass and embarrass Bonnie Ezzell,” according to warrants.

original article here

Felony Charges for Fake Internet Posting & Harassment

(MISSOURI) A St. Peters mom faces felony charges for allegedly making a fake posting on Craigslist.

It will be a landmark case.

She's the first person charged with a felony under a new Missouri internet harassment law.

Forty-year-old Elizabeth Thrasher is accused of making a sexually suggestive ad in the "casual encounters" section of Craigslist to embarrass a 17-year-old girl.

The girl is the daughter of a woman who is now dating Thrasher's ex-husband.

The ad contained the 17-year-old's picture, cell phone number and place of employment. After it went online, the girl started receiving calls, texts and even pornography from men responding to the ad.

Prosecutors say this is harassment and it falls under a new law written in response to the suicide death of 13-year-old Megan Meier.

Meier received disturbing MySpace messages from an adult writing from a fake account.

In this case, Thrasher is over 21 and the victim is under 17, so it qualifies as a felony.

But Thrasher's lawyer says the charge does not fit the crime.

He says the new law is poorly written and doesn't apply in this case.

"The statute is very poorly crafted," says Thrasher's lawyer, Mike Kielty. "And the behavior in this case that's alleged to be criminal is anything but."

Prosecutors disagree.

"The fact that someone went on another website and created a fake post in someone's name, I think that's exactly what this statue was written for," says St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas.

Thrasher is due in court again at the end of the month. She posted bond so she is not in custody. Her lawyer says she plans to plead not guilty.

original post here