NEWSWORTHY
Japan's banks and police step up efforts to counter refund scams involving ATMs
Financial institutions and police are stepping up efforts to protect the elderly from refund scams involving ATMs, including the use of systems that automatically suspend transactions if suspicious activity is detected. According to the National Police Agency, losses through refund scams — cases in which ...
Land scam group sent Sekisui House payments to multiple accounts
Suspects in the case are believed to have sent payments from the major homebuilder to multiple accounts and remitted a part of the money overseas, investigative sources said Wednesday.
Loan forgiveness: Students bilked by U.S. for-profit colleges score win in court decision
Students defrauded by for-profit colleges scored an important victory on Tuesday, when a court cleared the way for an Obama-era policy that will make it easier for them to get their student loans forgiven. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had said the regulation, known as borrower ...
Suspects arrested over fraudulent sale of land to Sekisui House
Police have obtained arrest warrants for 12 men and women over a bogus land sale in which homebuilder Sekisui House suffered a loss of about ¥5.5 billion, and took some of them into custody Tuesday, investigative sources said. The man believed to have masterminded the ...
Beware of the ¥10 million business card
Business cards carry a lot of weight in Japan, so much so that they can be used to devastating effect if someone decides to deploy them for criminal purposes. A recent case highlights the danger that comes with placing trust in such cards. At the ...
Ex-head of kimono firm admits to defrauding banks before company failed
The former head of a bankrupt rental kimono firm admitted Friday to defrauding banks to keep his business running, until it suddenly shut its shops before this year's Coming-of-Age Day celebration in January, causing a furor among female clients who were left without formal ...
Trump got $413 million from dad via tax dodges, including fraud: NYT
The New York Times reported Tuesday that President Donald Trump received at least $413 million from his father over the decades, much of that through dubious tax dodges, including outright fraud. The 15,000-word Times report contradicts Trump's portrayal of himself as a self-made billionaire who ...
Retired NBA star Kevin Garnett sues accountant for $77 million
Former NBA star Kevin Garnett has filed a lawsuit against an accountant accused of helping defraud the player of $77 million, U.S. media reports said Thursday. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Garnett was suing Kentucky-based accountant Michael Wertheim and his firm Welenken, accusing him ...
According to a report by a major internet security firm, in the first half of this year a record 2.9 million people in Japan were directed through phishing emails to fake websites created to steal sensitive information. The report by Trend Micro Inc. released Monday ...
It's a bird... it's a train... China pigeon racers cause flap with rail ruse
Two Chinese pigeon racers took cheating to an extreme when they hid their birds in milk cartons and hopped on a bullet train. Their homing pigeons scooped the first four places in the race and total prize money of more than 1 million yuan ($150,000). But ...
New 'smishing' scams baiting smartphone clients of Sagawa Express
Police are on alert for SMS phishing attacks in which scammers claim to be from parcel delivery firm Sagawa Express Co. The new crime, known as "smishing," or SMS phishing, involves short text messages intended to guide smartphone users to fake websites where they are ...
Florida's famed weirdness creeping into political races
Florida's penchant for the weird and strange — often manifested in new forms of criminal behavior (think chasing people through a store with a live alligator) — is so prevalent it has created a cottage industry of chroniclers and followers. But, like a contagion that ...
