Hacker News with Generative AI: Fraud

Meta refuses to crack down on rampant scams from bogus ads: avoid losing revenue (nypost.com)
Meta reportedly allowed thousands of bogus ads to run on its platforms while refusing to crack down on alleged cases of fraud to avoid losing ad revenue, according to a bombshell report.

Meta, Advertising, Fraud, Scams

49 points by type0 31 days ago | 11 comments

German court sends VW execs to prison over Dieselgate scandal (politico.eu)
A German regional court on Monday convicted four former Volkswagen executives of fraud in connection with the long-running Dieselgate emissions scandal.

Germany, Automotive Industry, Legal Cases, Fraud, Volkswagen

798 points by Tomte 32 days ago | 316 comments

The Old, Old, Old Man (publicdomainreview.org)
As the story goes, Old Tom Parr was relatively healthy for being 152 until a visit to noxious, polluted London in 1635 cut his long life short. Katherine Harvey investigates the early modern claims surrounding this supercentarian and the fraudulent longevity business that became his namesake in the 19th century.

History, Longevity, Fraud, England

14 points by diodorus 37 days ago | 0 comments

'A Billion Streams and No Fans': Inside a $10M AI Music Fraud Case (wired.com)
Almost no one hits it big in music. The odds are so bad it’s criminal. But on a late spring evening in Louisville, Kentucky, Mike Smith and Jonathan Hay were having that rare golden moment when everything clicks.

Music Industry, Artificial Intelligence, Fraud, Law Enforcement

12 points by tosh 38 days ago | 1 comments

Chinese exporters offering sweet deals to US businesses, often wrapped in fraud (cnbc.com)

International Trade, Fraud, Business, China, United States

6 points by TMWNN 38 days ago | 1 comments

Social Security drops controversial antifraud review amid growing claims backlog (cnn.com)

Social Security, Government, Politics, Fraud

10 points by toomuchtodo 40 days ago | 5 comments

A DoorDash driver scammed the company out $2.5M (theverge.com)
A former DoorDash delivery driver pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to a wire fraud conspiracy that scammed DoorDash out of over $2.5 million, the US Attorney’s Office in California’s Northern District announced on Tuesday.

Fraud, DoorDash, Crime, Business

13 points by 01-_- 41 days ago | 6 comments

MIT paper on AI for materials research found to be fraudulent (thebsdetector.substack.com)
A few months ago, I remember reading some press about a new economics preprint out of MIT. The Wall Street Journal covered the research a few days after it dropped online, with the favorable headline, “Will AI Help or Hurt Workers? One 26-Year-Old Found an Unexpected Answer.” The photo for the article shows the promising young author, Aidan Toner-Rodgers, standing next to two titans of economics research, Daron Acemoglu (2024 Nobel laureate in economics) and David Autor.

Artificial Intelligence, Research, Fraud, Academia, Economics

56 points by outrun86 42 days ago | 8 comments

Scammers are deepfaking voices of senior US Government officials, warns FBI (theregister.com)
The FBI has warned that fraudsters are impersonating "senior US officials" using deepfakes as part of a major fraud campaign.

Cybersecurity, Deepfakes, Government, Fraud

8 points by Bender 43 days ago | 0 comments

Wise refuses to let us access our $60k AUD (hey.paris)
Wise has stolen more than $60,000 AUD from us, and refuses to let us access it.

Financial Services, Fraud, Personal Finance

184 points by parisidau 45 days ago | 143 comments

How a "We Buy Ugly Houses" Franchise Left a Trail of Financial Wreckage in Texas (propublica.org)
Ronald Carver was skeptical when his investment adviser first tried to sell him on an “ugly houses” investment opportunity eight years ago. But once the Texas retiree heard the details, it seemed like a no-lose situation.

Real Estate, Business, Fraud, Texas, Investigations

16 points by rwc9 45 days ago | 7 comments

Welcome to the age of paranoia as deepfakes and scams abound (wired.com)
As AI-driven fraud becomes increasingly common, more people feel the need to verify every interaction they have online.

Deepfakes, Artificial Intelligence, Online Security, Fraud, Paranoia

19 points by pseudolus 45 days ago | 3 comments

San Francisco crypto founder faked his own death (sfstandard.com)
Jeffy Yu was days away from his 23rd birthday when he appeared to take his own life Sunday in a video. A flattering obituary appeared, calling the aspiring crypto mogul “a visionary artist, technologist, and cultural force” and “a tech prodigy from an early age.” A memecoin in Yu’s honor went up for sale.But in the days that followed, online sleuths raised doubts about the video’s authenticity. The obituary disappeared.

Cryptocurrency, Fraud, San Francisco, Death, Social Media

14 points by LorenDB 48 days ago | 2 comments

Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky sentenced to 12 years for "unbank yourself" scam (arstechnica.com)
Alex Mashinsky—the disgraced founder of the Celsius Network cryptocurrency bank who deceived hundreds of thousands into losing billions with the catchy slogan "unbank yourself"—was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday.

Cryptocurrency, Finance, Law, Fraud

16 points by tomrod 49 days ago | 0 comments

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky sentenced to 12 years in crypto fraud case (cnbc.com)

Cryptocurrency, Finance, Law, Business, Fraud

12 points by pseudolus 50 days ago | 0 comments

Crypto founder faked own death. We found him alive at his dad’s house (sfstandard.com)
Jeffy Yu was days away from his 23rd birthday when he appeared to take his own life Sunday in a livestream video. A flattering obituary appeared, calling the aspiring crypto mogul “a visionary artist, technologist, and cultural force” and “a tech prodigy from an early age.” A memecoin in Yu’s honor went up for sale.But in the days that followed, online sleuths raised doubts about the video’s authenticity. The obituary disappeared.

Cryptocurrency, Fraud, Social Media, Death

14 points by coloneltcb 50 days ago | 2 comments

The Secret World of Coupon Fraud: Exploiting Barcode Vulnerabilities (medium.com)
You’ve scanned barcodes countless times — UPC, EAN, and GS1 Databar — but have you ever wondered what they’re encoding? Until 2006, neither had I. That year, I started as a software engineer at Coupons.com, tasked with transitioning our coupons to the GS1 Databar system.

Security, Retail, Data Encoding, Fraud

10 points by brianhama 65 days ago | 0 comments

AI is helping fraudsters pump out scamming campaigns in minutes (techradar.com)

Artificial Intelligence, Fraud, Cybersecurity

14 points by Brajeshwar 66 days ago | 4 comments

Google used AI to suspend over 39M ad accounts suspected of fraud (techcrunch.com)
Google on Wednesday said it suspended 39.2 million advertiser accounts on its platform in 2024 — more than triple the number from the previous year — in its latest crackdown on ad fraud.

Google, Advertising, Fraud, AI

25 points by croes 72 days ago | 4 comments

Google used AI to suspend over 39M ad accounts suspected of fraud (techcrunch.com)
Google on Wednesday said it suspended 39.2 million advertiser accounts on its platform in 2024 — more than triple the number from the previous year — in its latest crackdown on ad fraud.

Google, Advertising, Fraud, AI

14 points by bentobean 72 days ago | 6 comments

CEO Explains How He Faked Results in $300M Meltdown (bloomberg.com)
Agritech venture eFishery was one of Asia’s brightest startups with money from the likes of SoftBank and Temasek. Then it all came crashing down.

Business, Startups, Fraud, Asia, Investments

16 points by bocahrokok 74 days ago | 3 comments

Fintech founder charged with fraud; AI app found to be humans in the Philippines (techcrunch.com)
Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, an AI shopping app that promised a “universal” checkout experience, was charged with defrauding investors on Wednesday, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Fintech, Artificial Intelligence, Fraud, Philippines

500 points by noleary 78 days ago | 230 comments

Fake job seekers are flooding US companies that are hiring for remote positions (cnbc.com)

Remote Work, Job Market, Cybersecurity, Fraud

182 points by arizen 80 days ago | 247 comments

Social Security Website Crashes Blamed on Doge Software Update (gizmodo.com)
Elon Musk’s war on fraud and abuse has impacted the Social Security Administration’s ability to distribute payments, according to a new report.

Social Security, Software, Elon Musk, Government, Fraud

22 points by molybdenum_plus 81 days ago | 4 comments

IRS to overhaul its tech after finding $21.1B in fraud in just two years (fortune.com)
The IRS’ crime fighting arm—IRS Criminal Investigation—is announcing a new program intended to improve how it interacts with financial institutions.

Government, Fraud, Technology

13 points by bentobean 90 days ago | 0 comments

Commuting More Fraudsters (nytimes.com)
President Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of Carlos Watson, a co-founder of the now-defunct digital media company Ozy Media, on the day he was set to surrender to prison, three people familiar with the matter said.

Politics, Fraud, Media

11 points by pmags 91 days ago | 1 comments

Charlie Javice convicted of defrauding JPMorgan in $175M startup sale (apnews.com)
Charlie Javice, the charismatic founder of a startup company that claimed to be revolutionizing the way college students apply for financial aid, was convicted Friday of defrauding one of the world’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, out of $175 million by exaggerating her customer base tenfold.

Startup, Fraud, Finance, Law, Business

149 points by ilamont 91 days ago | 178 comments

Founder Charlie Javice found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan Chase (cnbc.com)

Finance, Fraud, Lawsuits, Business, Banking

3 points by _JamesA_ 91 days ago | 0 comments

Nikola founder Trevor Milton claims he's been pardoned (electrek.co)
Well, here’s a weird one for today. We got a press release in our inboxes claiming that Nikola Motors founder Trevor Milton, who was convicted of fraud, has been issued a full pardon for his crimes. But no independent confirmation exists, and it sure does seem like some sort of publicity stunt.