A Hollywood director was convicted Thursday on charges that he scammed Netflix out of $11 million for a show that never materialized, while he instead used the cash for lavish purchases that included several Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari and about $1 million in mattresses and luxury bedding.
Carl Erik Rinsch, best known for directing the film “47 Ronin,” was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering and other charges, according to court records and a spokesperson for federal prosecutors in New York.
In a statement, Rinsch’s attorney, Benjamin Zeman, said he thought the verdict was wrong and “could set a dangerous precedent for artists who become embroiled in contractual and creative disputes with their benefactors, in this case one of the largest media companies in the world, finding themselves indicted by the federal government for fraud.”
Prosecutors said Netflix had initially paid Rinsch about $44 million for an unfinished sci-fi show called “White Horse,” and then sent over another $11 million after he said he needed additional funding to wrap up the production.
But instead of putting the money toward the show, Rinsch steered the cash to a personal account where he made a series of failed investments, losing around half of the $11 million in a couple months, according to prosecutors. He then put the remaining funds into the cryptocurrency market, netting some profit, though Rinsch then deposited the money into his own bank account.
Then came the lavish purchases, prosecutors said, with Rinsch buying five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, along with $652,000 on watches and clothes. He also bought two mattresses for about $638,000 and spent another $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens. In addition, he used some of the money to pay off about $1.8 million in credit card bills, prosecutors said.
Rinsch never finished the show. His sentencing date is set for April.
Netflix declined to comment.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, in a statement, said Rinsch “took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions.”
“Today’s conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable,” Clayton said.
Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-erafraud schemes.
The files document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children and used it to buy cars, property and jewelry. Videos show them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a text message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 year old InshaAllah [God willing].”
The documents feature exhibits from a recent federal trial, many of which are being made public by CBS News for the first time. The exhibits include:
A confirmation email for a stay in an overwater villa with a private pool at Radisson Blu Resort Maldives
Lakefront property in Minnesota
Receipts showing wire transfers to China and East Africa
First class tickets to Istanbul and Amsterdam
A 2021 Porsche Macan
Stacks of cash, texted between defendants
A lakefront home presented as evidence in a Minnesota fraud trial.
Court exhibit
At the sentencing of a defendant who used taxpayer funds for cars and the Maldives vacation, 24-year-old Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel admonished him, saying: “Where others saw a crisis and rushed to help, you saw money and rushed to steal.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $48 million in restitution for his role in the fraud scheme.
Nur is one of dozens who siphoned hundreds of millions in stolen taxpayer funds — with questions still swirling about where all the money went. The crime has drawn renewed attention in recent weeks: House Republicans last week launched a probe into Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the cases, and the Treasury Department said it will investigate whether money made its way to al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, which is based in Somalia.
“A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” Much of that money “has gone overseas, and we are tracking that both to the Middle East and to Somalia to see what the uses of that have been.” Multiple federal investigators told CBS News there is no evidence taxpayer dollars were funneled to al Shabaab, and prosecutors have yet to present any evidence linking any of the fraudsters to terrorism.
“The vast majority of the money that these folks made went to spending on luxury items for themselves,” said Andy Luger, the former U.S. Attorney who led the office which prosecuted Nur and other related frauds from 2022 until January. “There was never any evidence that this money went to fund terrorism nor was there any evidence that was the intent of the 70 people we indicted.”
One of the luxury cars presented as government evidence in a Minnesota fraud trial.
Court exhibit
A CBS News review of the files shows that defendants wired millions in stolen funds overseas, including to banks and companies in China. Officials said finding the ultimate recipients of money routed through China will be challenging because it can be an investigative black hole.
The defendants also transferred nearly $3 million to accounts in Kenya.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison last month for his role in the scheme, made six separate wire transfers worth more than $1 million to banks in China between February and July 2021, according to records reviewed by CBS News.
This photo of a text exchange, presented in court, shows a box stuffed with cash and a message saying “$270,000 dollars.”
Court exhibit
In one text, Farah instructed someone to “please send $1000 to Mogadishu bakara,” an apparent reference to a one-time al Shabaab stronghold that was the site of the infamous 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident in which 18 American servicemembers died.
Farah owned and operated Empire Cuisine and Market, a Minnesota restaurant that contracted with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future to cook and provide meals to children. Prosecutors say he and his co-defendants billed the state for $47 million, claiming to have served 18 million meals at more than 30 locations — but they didn’t distribute a single meal.
Hundreds of documents related to Farah’s case detail how he spent money on luxury cars, investment properties at home and overseas, plus first-class travel to exotic destinations, including Istanbul and the Emirates. The defendants used sea planes to travel to resorts in the Maldives, where in one video, Farah is seen popping champagne at a private pool villa in July 2021.
Screenshots of videos from a Maldives vacation, presented as government evidence in a Minnesota fraud trial.
Court exhibit
At Farah’s sentencing, a judge said his crimes were motivated by “pure, unmitigated greed.” Farah’s attorneys did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment, including to a question about whether any of the fraud proceeds were diverted to Al Shabaab.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar said Sunday on “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan”that any link between allegations of fraud by members of the Somali community and terrorism would be a “failure of the FBI.”
“If there was a linkage in the money that they have stolen going to terrorism, then that is a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out,” Omar said.
So far, federal prosecutors have convicted 61 people in the widening Minnesota fraud scandal. More investigations are ongoing.
NEW YORK — Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for misleading investors who lost billions when his company’s crypto ecosystem collapsed in 2022.
Kwon, known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs’ $40 billion crash.
The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin” — a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down, devastating investors and triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.”
Kwon, who hails from South Korea, has agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of the plea deal.
While federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison term of about 25 years, prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Kwon to 12 years. They cited his guilty plea, the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea and that he has already served time in Montenegro while awaiting extradition.
“Kwon’s fraud was colossal in scope, permeating virtually every facet of Terraform’s purported business,” prosecutors wrote in a recent memo to the judge. “His rampant lies left a trail of financial destruction in their wake.”
Kwon’s attorneys asked that the sentence not exceed five years, arguing in their own memo that his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation.
In a letter to the judge, Kwon wrote, “I alone am responsible for everyone’s pain. The community looked to me to know the path, and I in my hubris led them astray,” while adding, “I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret.”
Authorities said investors worldwide lost money in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm, which Kwon co-founded in 2018. Around $40 billion in market value was erased for the holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg.
Kwon was extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro after his March 23, 2023, arrest while traveling on a false passport in Europe.
NEW YORK (AP) — Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for misleading investors who lost billions when his company’s crypto ecosystem collapsed in 2022.
Kwon, known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs’ $40 billion crash.
The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin” — a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down, devastating investors and triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.”
Kwon, who hails from South Korea, has agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of the plea deal.
While federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison term of about 25 years, prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Kwon to 12 years. They cited his guilty plea, the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea and that he has already served time in Montenegro while awaiting extradition.
“Kwon’s fraud was colossal in scope, permeating virtually every facet of Terraform’s purported business,” prosecutors wrote in a recent memo to the judge. “His rampant lies left a trail of financial destruction in their wake.”
Kwon’s attorneys asked that the sentence not exceed five years, arguing in their own memo that his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation.
In a letter to the judge, Kwon wrote, “I alone am responsible for everyone’s pain. The community looked to me to know the path, and I in my hubris led them astray,” while adding, “I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret.”
Authorities said investors worldwide lost money in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm, which Kwon co-founded in 2018. Around $40 billion in market value was erased for the holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg.
Kwon was extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro after his March 23, 2023, arrest while traveling on a false passport in Europe.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The federal and state crackdowns on fraud in Minnesota are creating collateral damage in programs aimed at helping people with disabilities.
One nonprofit says it is at risk of shutting down because of potential funding pauses. But supporters of the crackdown say it’s all necessary to get to the root of schemes that have cost Minnesota taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
The latest crackdown is from Dr. Mehmet Oz, the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In a statement on X, Oz said, in part, “Our message to Walz is clear either fix this in 60 days or start looking under your bed for spare change because we are done footing the bill for your incompetence.”
“We are glad to see CMS affirming the governor’s executive action and look forward to continuing to work together,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in response.
In late October, Walz announced the audit of 14 high-risk state Medicaid-funded programs, warning their funding could be paused.
Calli Brown is the CEO of Learnability, a nonprofit that provides 24-hour home health aides to severely disabled individuals, and says it is part of the 14 high-risk programs.
Brown has written to the federal program, saying she will have to shut down if the federal government limits the in-home care she provides to six hours a day, down from 16.
“I serve about 20 clients, and my clients are of the highest needs individuals,” Brown said. “Programs like mine are victims of this fraud, because truly, we should be the recipients of funding to provide services honestly and high-level professionalism.”
She is baffled by the fraud because she has to produce reports on every home visit and her employees’ home visits are electronically tracked.
“All of our visits are provable,” Brown said.
She says her nonprofit welcomes the audit, but the possibility of losing funding at the end of January has left families of their patients scrambling, and endangers the future of Learnability.
But State Rep. Patti Anderson, the vice chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Committee, says the audits and investigations are necessary.
“It’s very, very unfortunate, because these are dollars that should be going to people that need it. And there are folks who need these services, but we have to get to the bottom of it,” Anderson said.
In addition to all the investigations, the state of Minnesota has issued a two-year pause on new state licenses for group homes for the disabled.
The office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz released this statement: “Protecting quality providers is one of the most important reasons to combat fraud. We don’t expect complying with an audit to be prohibitive for law-abiding providers.”
The federal and state crackdowns on fraud in Minnesota are creating collateral damage in programs aimed at helping people with disabilities.
One nonprofit says it is at risk of shutting down because of potential funding pauses. But supporters of the crackdown say it’s all necessary to get to the root of schemes that have cost Minnesota taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
The latest crackdown is from Dr. Mehmet Oz, the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In a statement on X, Oz said, in part, “Our message to Walz is clear either fix this in 60 days or start looking under your bed for spare change because we are done footing the bill for your incompetence.”
“We are glad to see CMS affirming the governor’s executive action and look forward to continuing to work together,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in response.
In late October, Walz announced the audit of 14 high-risk state Medicaid-funded programs, warning their funding could be paused.
Calli Brown is the CEO of Learnability, a nonprofit that provides 24-hour home health aides to severely disabled individuals, and says it is part of the 14 high-risk programs.
Brown has written to the federal program, saying she will have to shut down if the federal government limits the in-home care she provides to six hours a day, down from 16.
“I serve about 20 clients, and my clients are of the highest needs individuals,” Brown said. “Programs like mine are victims of this fraud, because truly, we should be the recipients of funding to provide services honestly and high-level professionalism.”
She is baffled by the fraud because she has to produce reports on every home visit and her employees’ home visits are electronically tracked.
“All of our visits are provable,” Brown said.
She says her nonprofit welcomes the audit, but the possibility of losing funding at the end of January has left families of their patients scrambling, and endangers the future of Learnability.
But State Rep. Patti Anderson, the vice chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Committee, says the audits and investigations are necessary.
“It’s very, very unfortunate, because these are dollars that should be going to people that need it. And there are folks who need these services, but we have to get to the bottom of it,” Anderson said.
In addition to all the investigations, the state of Minnesota has issued a two-year pause on new state licenses for group homes for the disabled.
The office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz released this statement: “Protecting quality providers is one of the most important reasons to combat fraud. We don’t expect complying with an audit to be prohibitive for law-abiding providers.”
Royal Bank of Canada is developing tools by combining new and old tech to fight scams powered by gen AI. The bank is blending AI and gen AI tech to fight fraud, Geoffrey Morton, senior director of fraud strategy at RBC, told FinAi News. “We’re exploring specifically within scams,” Morton said. “It’s one thing to be able to detect the scam activity but it’s another problem to convince […]
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently faced questions about a state fraud scandal involving Somalis that spawned a feud between him and President Donald Trump.
The scandal, outlined in a Nov. 29 article in The New York Times, centered on a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future that received federal funding to feed low-income children. NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Nov. 30 about the schemes mentioned in the article that involved people convicted in Minnesota for stealing taxpayer money during the pandemic.
Welker asked Walz: “Do you take responsibility for failing to stop this fraud in your state?”
The governor replied, “Well, certainly, I take responsibility for putting people in jail. Governors don’t get to just talk theoretically. We have to solve problems.”
His statement gives the impression that state officials were on the front lines of prosecuting historic fraud. That’s not what happened. Federal prosecutors led the investigations and brought the charges.
We asked Walz for evidence the governor was responsible for convictions.
“Prosecutions don’t materialize out of thin air,” Walz spokesperson Claire Lancaster said.
State officials cited Minnesota agencies’ work, including by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, whose laboratory provided forensic testing on evidence. Jen Longaecker, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson, pointed to the bureau’s role in identifying fingerprints on a gift bag used in a Feeding Our Future juror bribery scheme. But that case was an offshoot of the initial fraud investigation.
Trump cited the scandal as a reason to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota, writing Nov. 21 on Truth Social, “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing.”
Temporary Protected Status is for people from certain countries experiencing war, natural disasters or epidemics and protects them from deportation. There are about 700 Somalis in the U.S. with TPS, many in Minnesota. Immigration lawyers said it isn’t possible to take away the status state by state.
Before Trump vowed to do that, the TPS program for Somalis across the U.S. was already set to expire in March 2026.
An estimated 100,000 people who identify as Somali live in Minnesota and the majority are U.S. citizens. Many came to the state in the 1990s fleeing a civil war.
Trump appeared to be reacting to a recent report from a conservative activist that said Somalis stole the money to use it for terrorism. That claim, which has circulated since 2018, lacks evidence.
Federal authorities took the lead
In February 2021, the FBI notified the Minnesota Department of Education about kickback allegations involving Feeding Our Future and allegations the group wasn’t providing meals as it said it had. Two months later, the education department notified the FBI that it believed some meal sites were submitting fraudulent documents and inflating the number of children receiving meals.
Prosecutors said defendants stole $250 million in federal money and spent it on international vacations, real estate, jewelry and luxury cars.
Then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called it “the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme.”
Feeding Our Future employees recruited people and entities to open sites to feed children, creating shell companies to launder the money. The group existed before the pandemic. But amid COVID-19 school shutdowns, the federal government lifted some requirements about where children could get meals, and afterward the number of meals Feeding Our Future said it served soared. Prosecutors said the defendants exploited those changes and created false documentation such as fake attendance rosters listing how many people had been fed, significantly inflating the numbers.
Some state employees raised red flags about the organization, and early in the pandemic, questioned its growth. Then Feeding Our Families sued the state, and a judge told the state it had “a real problem not reimbursing at this stage of the game.” But the judge did not rule on the matter in an April 2021 hearing, and the state resumed paying Feeding Our Future.
Walz sought in 2022 to blame the judge for the resumed payments, prompting the judge to issue a statement that the governor was wrong, and the education department had resumed the payments on its own, not because of an order from him, the Minnesota Reformer reported in 2022.
Federal prosecutors announced in September 2022 criminal charges against 47 defendants — a number that eventually grew to 78.
Most of the defendants were of Somali descent. More than 50 people have pleaded guilty while others were convicted at trial, including Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock, who is not Somali.
Did the state play a role?
We found scant mention of state agencies in stories about the investigation dating to 2022. In January 2022, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was working on the investigation along with federal offices, but news accounts largely cited the federal law enforcement work.
The FBI had to build its case from scratch, the Star Tribune found, obtaining records from hundreds of bank accounts. The newspaper wrote in 2022 that state and federal records showed that “Minnesota officials provided federal authorities with little or no evidence” that Feeding Our Future misappropriated government money.
The Minnesota Reformer and the Star Tribune have reported that state officials could have done more to stop or investigate fraud.
The state legislative auditor found in 2024 that the education department provided inadequate oversight and “could have taken more decisive action sooner.”
Mark Osler, a law professor at University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, told PolitiFact it makes sense that federal authorities led the case given the complexity, involvement of federal money and potential for conflicts of interest for state officials.
Osler, a former federal prosecutor, said the state should have detected the fraud earlier.
“The underlying issue isn’t really punishing people later, it is detecting the fraud before it became so large and stopping it,” he said.
Recent Minnesota fraud cases
During the “Meet the Press” interview, Welker mentioned $1 billion in fraud, a cumulative figure spanning many fraud cases, including more recent ones.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson told local ABC affiliate KSTP-TV in July that he expects the scope of fraud will exceed $1 billion when investigators complete their findings.
In September, federal prosecutors charged defendants in schemes misusing housing funding and money to provide services for people with autism spectrum disorder.
State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents continue to work with federal investigators on those cases, Longaecker said.
Our ruling
Walz said he took “responsibility for putting people in jail” in the Minnesota fraud scandal.
The work of federal investigators and prosecutors — not state officials — led to dozens of convictions in the Feeding Our Future scandal.
Reporting by media organizations in the state showed that Minnesota officials provided little or no evidence to federal investigators, who had to build a case from scratch, and that the state could have done more to aid the investigation.
We rate this statement False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
AI-assisted fraud rings are contributing to a rise in losses at financial institutions such as credit unions. Fraud losses reported by consumers in the United States rose 25% year over year in 2024 to $12.5 billion, with investment scams accounting for $5.7 billion, up 24% YoY, according to Federal Trade Commission data. The jump is due in part to fraudsters […]
There have been nearly 1.5 million reports of fraud so far this year, which is up from 1.3 million for the same period last year. Ash-har Quraishi got a behind-the-scenes look at VISA’s high-tech cyber fusion center in Virginia to see how it’s fighting fraud.
Before you click “purchase” on a Black Friday online deal, you may want to think twice.
Black Friday is expected to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year, with Americans forecast to spend $11.7 billion online, according to Adobe Analytics. Mobile shopping will drive more than half of all sales, Adobe estimates.
As millions of Americans search apps and websites for deals, experts warn that consumers should be on the lookout for fraudsters who will try to capitalize on the holiday shopping rush.
“Limited time only, gotta do it now, before it sells out, whatever it is. That whole sense of urgency is something bad guys love,” Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, told CBS News Texas.
Fake QR codes, phony social media posts and phishing emails are just some of the tools scammers use to lure consumers into unwittingly forking over their information.
To pull off their schemes, fraudsters are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence. One common scam is creating “deepfakes” — videos that appear to be a celebrity or influencer promoting a product but are in fact a dupe — to bait people into visiting counterfeit websites. That means that what you see may not be what you get.
Once there, fraudsters can steal both your payment information and your personal credentials.
“You can’t rely on your eyes and ears anymore,” Plaggemier said.
Scammers are also creating social media ads that mimic popular brands to fool customers into thinking whatever they are buying is the real deal, according to LifeLock, an identity theft protection service.
Here are some tips to avoid scams if you’re planning to make online purchases on Black Friday.
Check the URL to make sure it’s from a reputable retailer. Scammers often create fake websites that mirror other businesses’ URLs. The fake ones, however, will contain misspellings or extra numbers and letters. For example, a fraudster might use the lookalike URL be5tbuy.com to mimic bestbuy.com, according to LifeLock. If something seems amiss, take a moment to reconsider your purchase.
Use a credit card. Experts say using a credit card can better protect against fraud. With debit cards, the onus falls on you to get your money back, according to NerdWallet, a personal finance website. With credit cards, it’s up to the card issuer to get the money back, meaning the consumer faces less legwork and an easier path to getting a refund. Whatever card you use, experts encourage shoppers to track their purchase history to make sure nothing is amiss.
Be skeptical of offers or discounts that seem too good to be true. Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce, told CBS News in an email that shoppers should verify offers directly on the retailer’s web page.
Read the fine print. While it may be easy to skim over purchase details, experts encourage shoppers to give them some extra attention. Melanie McGovern, the director of public relations and social media at the nonprofit Better Business Bureau, told CBS News Texas that shoppers should check shipping dates, return policies and restocking dates for sold-out items. “Just doing general things before you make that purchase will help you to make sure you get the item before the holidays,” she told CBS News Texas.
Use the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker.The tool lets you report scams and read those documented by other consumers, helping you avoid falling for the same tactics.
Be wary of links from unsolicited emails and text messages. Scammers often send messages that appear to come from a legitimate company, urging you to take an action such as updating your payment information. LifeLock advises consumers to check the sender’s email address to confirm it matches the organization it claims to be. Shoppers should also watch for spelling or branding mistakes, a common sign of a scam.
BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand said Wednesday that it has issued an arrest warrant for a co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case.
Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip was charged with fraud then released on bail in 2023. She failed to appear as required in a Bangkok court on Tuesday. Since she did not notify the court about her absence, she was deemed to be a flight risk, according to a statement from the Bangkok South District Court.
The court rescheduled the hearing for Dec. 26.
According to the court’s statement, Jakkaphong and her company, JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., were sued for allegedly defrauding Raweewat Maschamadol in selling him the company’s corporate bonds in 2023. Raweewat says the investment caused him to lose 30 million baht ($930,362).
Financially troubled JKN defaulted on payments to investors beginning in 2023 and began debt rehabilitation procedures with the Central Bankruptcy Court in 2024. The company says it has debts totaling about 3 billion baht ($93 million).
JKN acquired the rights to the Miss Universe pageant from IMG Worldwide LLC in 2022. In 2023, it sold 50% of its Miss Universe shares to Legacy Holding Group USA, which is owned by a Mexican businessman, Raúl Rocha Cantú.
In an unrelated case in Mexico, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Rocha Cantú has been under investigation since November 2024 for alleged organized crime activity, including drug and arms trafficking, as well as fuel theft.
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The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that Raúl “R” was the target of the investigation. A federal agent who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation confirmed that was Rocha Cantú.
The Miss Universe Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Mexico approved 13 arrest orders against targets in the case. The federal agent would not confirm or deny whether an order was issued for Rocha Cantú.
Jakkaphong resigned from all of the company’s positions in June after being accused by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission of falsifying the company’s 2023 financial statements. She remains its largest shareholder.
Her whereabouts remain unclear. She did not appear at the 74th Miss Universe competition, which was held in Bangkok earlier this month.
This year’s competition was marred by various problems, including a sharp-tongued scolding by a Thai organizer of Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico, who was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Nov. 19. Two judges reportedly dropped out, with one suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. Separately, Thai police investigated allegations that publicity for the event included illegal promotion of online casinos.
On Monday, JKN denied rumors that Jakkaphong had liquidated the company’s assets and fled the country, but there has been no immediate reaction regarding the arrest warrant. She could not be reached for comment.
Jakkaphong is a well-known celebrity in Thailand who has starred in reality shows and is outspoken about her identity as a transgender woman.
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AP writer Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.
A Nigerian romance scammer was found guilty last month of money laundering. His victims include a Triangle area man trying to buy a home in Apex.
A Nigerian romance scammer was found guilty by a federal jury of laundering more than $120,000 from a Triangle area man, officials announced Wednesday.
Saheed Sunday Owolabi, 34, was convicted Oct. 16 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, court records show. He was arrested in July 2024, about four months after he arrived in the United States on a spousal visa, according to court documents.
Owolabi was indicted in June 2022, along with another Nigerian man and two American men, court documents show. He and Stephen Ojo, the other Nigerian, posed as women online and convinced men to send and receive money for them, the indictment states.
“Investigators recovered chat messages in which Owolabi admitted he was running a romance scam until he realized he was actually communicating with another fraudster,” a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice states. “That individual mocked Owolabi’s efforts and told him to ‘learn how to do a cleaner job.’”
One of those victims was Derrick Donahue Davis of Concord, according to court documents. Davis fell for Ojo, who was allegedly going by the name “Kyra Carter,” after meeting the fake woman on a dating app in 2018, court documents state.
Davis ultimately played a crucial role in an April 2020 scam where the men sent a Triangle area man identified as “KCN” an email pretending to be KCN’s attorney. KCN was closing on a home in Apex, and the fake email used the COVID-19 pandemic as a ploy to get KCN to wire $120,768.17 to Davis’ bank account to avoid a delayed closing, court documents allege.
Davis then sent the money to several other people, and at least $1,500 made its way back to Owolabi, according to court documents. The victim didn’t realize he’d been scammed until he arrived at the closing appointment. Law enforcement noticed the large transaction and told Davis he was participating in criminal activity, but he allegedly continued to move money for Ojo and Owolabi nonetheless, court documents state.
Davis pleaded guilty in April 2023, and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, court documents state. Ojo, who lived in Turkey during much of the criminal activity, has yet to be arrested, according to court records.
Owolabi is scheduled to be sentenced in January. He faces up to 40 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, according to federal officials.
Lexi Solomon joined The News & Observer in August 2024 as the emerging news reporter. She previously worked in Fayetteville at The Fayetteville Observer and CityView, reporting on crime, education and local government. She is a 2022 graduate of Virginia Tech with degrees in Russian and National Security & Foreign Affairs.
A former investment advisor who lived in a Coconut Grove luxury high-rise condo has pleaded guilty to directing a Ponzi scheme that fleeced $94 million from Venezuelan investors and Catholic dioceses in the South American country over the past two decades.
Andrew H. Jacobus, 64, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and money laundering this month. He now faces 15 years or more in prison at his sentencing in early February in Miami federal court after admitting that he bilked dozens of Venezuelans living in South Florida and abroad, according to his plea agreement and other court records.
Jacobus, who was granted a bond after his arrest in July and now lives in a Fort Lauderdale apartment, must repay the victims of his investment scheme and assist federal investigators in tracking down their stolen funds, but it’s unclear from court records how much the former investment advisor still has available in assets.
Jacobus induced the various Venezuelans — including a nonprofit group that supports the retirement and healthcare of Catholic priests — to invest tens of millions of dollars by promising them high-yield returns on fixed-income funds under his companies’ control, says a factual statement filed with his plea agreement. Jacobus admitted that he used those funds to pay off some investors while stealing from others to enrich himself between 2004 and 2024, the statement says.
Jacobus, who operated two Coral Gables-based businesses, Finser International Corp. and Kronus Financial Corp., promised yearly investment returns of 12% to 15% on certificates of deposit and other fixed-income securities as he secretly swindled investors until some learned of his theft in 2022 and complained to federal authorities, leading to an Internal Revenue Service criminal investigation and grand jury indictment filed in Miami this year.
Fictitious account statements
The factual statement, underscoring Jacobus’ guilty pleas to two counts in the indictment, notes that one Venezuelan investor transferred $1 million to a Kronus bank account in July 2020 “based on the defendant’s false representations that the money would be used for investment purposes.” Instead, Jacobus moved $120,000 from that account to another so that he could pay other investors to perpetuate his international Ponzi scheme.
“To conceal his fraud, Jacobus would create and provide to the victims fictitious account statements or balances purporting to show the investment portfolio and related balances, when in fact the victims’ accounts had significantly smaller balances,” Jacobus admitted in the factual statement signed by him, his defense attorney, Bruce Lehr, and federal prosecutor Robert Moore.
In addition to the indictment, the Securities and Exchange Commission also sued Jacobus and his companies, alleging he committed the same fraud scheme in a civil lawsuit.
The Venezuelan investors — 10 people are listed by their initials and two others as faith-based organizations in the indictment — turned to the United States as a safe haven to protect their money as their country collapsed economically during the administrations of the late President Hugo Chavez and current leader Nicolas Maduro.
At least five lawsuits in Miami-Dade
In recent years, several investors sued Jacobus and his firm, accusing them of fraud and civil theft involving tens of millions of dollars, according to civil court filings. They also notified the SEC, which had sanctioned Jacobus over pocketing exorbitant fees in a cease-and-desist order in 2020 when he and his firm, Finser International Corp., managed about $79 million in investment funds.
Among Jacobus’ investment victims: a wealthy businessman who owns a crane business, a plastic surgeon and a renowned sculptor, all from Venezuela, according to court records.
Jacobus’ investors accused the investment advisor of withholding and misappropriating their funds after they demanded he return their money, according to at least five lawsuits filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Miami attorney Michael Padula, who filed three of those suits against the former investment advisor, said Jacobus “preyed on churches and hard-working entrepreneurs and investors and cost people their life savings.”
The first two cases accusing Jacobus of fraud and other civil violations were brought in 2022 by Padula, a former prosecutor at the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office who had focused on white-collar crime. Padula accused Jacobus of running a “Ponzi scheme” by using newer investors’ money to pay off older ones — an allegation that caught the attention of other Venezuelans who invested millions of dollars with Jacobus.
Padula’s clients, Fermin Suarez, a wealthy Venezuelan crane business owner, and Tubalcain Morales, who lives in Venezuela and Spain, reached respective settlements with Jacobus totaling about $18.5 million and $650,000, according to court records. Jacobus made a few payments to both men, then defaulted, Padula said.
Padula’s third client, Manuel Egea, a plastic surgeon residing in Venezuela, also filed suit in Miami, claiming he invested his “life savings” of about $9.5 million with Jacobus. The surgeon’s money was mostly placed in fixed-income investment funds that regularly yielded substantial monthly returns for years, his lawsuit states. But in 2023, Egea claims in his suit, the payments stopped, despite “several written requests to withdraw portions of [his] investment.”
Egea received a final judgment for his loss against Jacobus’ entities for $30 million, Padula said. But recovering funds from Jacobus or his companies has proven difficult, he said.
‘Jacobus had cleaned out her account’
Court records show other victims: Beatriz Aleman, an investment manager herself, and her husband, James Mathison, a sculptor whose work has been exhibited at shows in Miami, Venezuela and Europe, had an investment relationship with Jacobus dating back to 2012.
In their lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the couple said they invested about $2 million with Jacobus through the fall of 2022 and Aleman herself referred more than 20 investors to him over the past decade.
The couple’s lawyer, Clarissa Rodriguez, said that before filing suit, she sent a letter to Jacobus demanding that he return the couple’s money — but he refused. The couple pursued legal action against Jacobus after they initially asked him to turn over about $760,000 in savings that he invested with the discount online firm, Interactive Brokers.
According to the couple’s suit, Aleman grew suspicious of Jacobus when she asked him to transfer $200,000 from her Interactive account to her bank in May 2023.
In an email, Aleman gave him instructions on where to wire the money, but Jacobus gave her excuses about transferring it, according to the suit. She then asked for a conference call with Jacobus, and he responded in an email that he was tired of repeating himself “ad nauseum” on the phone about the reasons for the delay. But they had never talked on the phone about the money transfer, leading Aleman to believe Jacobus “gaslighted” her, according to the couple’s suit.
Aleman learned from Interactive that her log-in credentials no longer existed and that the email address on file for her account had been changed to Jacobus’, the suit states. She found out that “Jacobus had cleaned out her account,” leaving Aleman with only $15,000 in savings at Interactive. A representative told Aleman that the monthly statements Jacobus had sent her showing her savings intact were “fake.”
On June 21, 2023, Jacobus admitted that he took her money for his own personal needs.
“I want to begin this note by asking for your forgiveness,” Jacobus emailed Aleman in Spanish, which was translated in the couple’s court filing. “I needed to make an urgent payment and without consulting you first, I boldly borrowed funds in your account at Interactive, with all the intention of returning them to you with a 15% return and without causing you any loss.”
But Aleman and her husband, Mathison, never got back their money, according to their lawyer.
Jay Weaver writes about federal crime at the crossroads of South Florida and Latin America. Since joining the Miami Herald in 1999, he’s covered the federal courts nonstop, from Elian Gonzalez’s custody battle to Alex Rodriguez’s steroid abuse. He was part of the Herald teams that won the 2001 and 2022 Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news on Elian’s seizure by federal agents and the collapse of a Surfside condo building killing 98 people. He and three Herald colleagues were 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalists for explanatory reporting on gold smuggling between South America and Miami.
As entrepreneurs, we obsess over funnels, pixels, and creative. But here’s the quiet leak many businesses miss: your links. In a world of AI-generated phishing and domain spoofing, a sketchy-looking URL isn’t just an aesthetic issue, it’s a trust issue. Consumers reported $12.5 billion in fraud losses last year, and attackers are weaponizing AI to make scams nearly impossible to spot.
Trust is fragile. DigiCert’s State of Digital Trustresearch found that 47 percent of consumers stopped doing business with a company after losing trust in its digital security, and 57 percent say they’d likely switch if they felt that trust erode. You don’t need a breach to trigger that. Looking “phishy” is often enough.
The pattern you normalize is the behavior you get
Generic shorteners and off-brand domains may be cheap and convenient, but they also look exactly like the links your customers are trained to avoid. CISA flags untrusted shortened URLs as a phishing red flag, and universities and security vendors warn that shortened links are a common obfuscation technique. When brands normalize those patterns, they’re teaching audiences to click them, and attackers will thank you.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
Meanwhile, these bad-actors are scaling. KnowBe4’s 2025 benchmarking data found that 82 percent of phishing emails currently use AI. Microsoft recently exposed an AI-aided phishing campaign that generated fake sign-in pages with convincing realism. This isn’t the future, it’s today’s inbox.
Branded domains aren’t cosmetic, they’re conversion and security
When the domain matches your brand, hesitation drops. Across channels (QR, SMS, email, social) an on-brand URL helps customers decide in milliseconds: Is this really you? According to a Journal of Advertising Research study, users show higher click propensity when the search includes a brand name. More importantly, branded links harden your ecosystem: Clean, governed link patterns are harder to spoof and easier to audit.
You don’t need to build new infrastructure to do it. Most reputable SaaS platforms now let you connect your own branded domain and SSL certificate in minutes. You keep the ease of third-party tools, while retaining ownership of your customer-facing identity.
The QR and SMS moment: Trust at first glance
QR codes have become the bridge between offline and online (packaging, TV, live events), but they also create a new moment of truth. When someone scans a QR code, their phone usually shows a preview of the destination address before opening it. If that preview shows a third-party domain, you’ve already lost a little trust, and potentially leaked a little data. Using your own branded domain for every QR code ensures that the link preview itself reassures customers and keeps click analytics within your control.
The same principle applies to SMS messages, one of today’s most common phishing channels. Texts that include unfamiliar or third-party domains look indistinguishable from scam attempts. Whether it’s a delivery notification, a password reset, or a limited-time offer, the link should always live under your brand’s domain. That single design choice protects the most vulnerable users (our parents, kids, and grandparents), while reinforcing that every authentic message from your company looks the same.
Own your click front door. Every campaign, QR code, or text link should live under your domain, even if powered by outside tools.
Enforce HTTPS. Security signals and trust signals are now the same thing.
Audit quarterly. Look at the domains your customers actually see. If they aren’t yours, fix them.
The simplest marketing policy you’ll ever write might also be the most powerful: “If a link doesn’t come from our domain, don’t click it, and don’t forward it.”
That one rule aligns teams, protects customers, and quietly trains your entire ecosystem in URL literacy. It’s the digital equivalent of locking your front door.
Trust drives engagement
From startups to global enterprises, trust drives engagement. During “attack seasons” such as the holidays, elections, or major events, phishing spikes and customer attention wanes. Strong link practices cut through the noise to reduce bounce and abandonment, while boosting clicks.
Once trust is in place, the fun begins. The next step is making links smarter, so they understand what someone wants and where they are in their journey. Call it AI for links. But intelligence only works when the foundation is trusted. In an AI-driven threat landscape, trust is your conversion rate. Own trust at the link level.
BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand said Wednesday that it has issued an arrest warrant for a co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case.
Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip was charged with fraud then released on bail in 2023. She failed to appear as required in a Bangkok court on Tuesday. Since she did not notify the court about her absence, she was deemed to be a flight risk, according to a statement from the Bangkok South District Court.
The court rescheduled the hearing for Dec. 26.
According to the court’s statement, Jakkaphong and her company, JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., were sued for allegedly defrauding Raweewat Maschamadol in selling him the company’s corporate bonds in 2023. Raweewat says the investment caused him to lose 30 million baht ($930,362).
Financially troubled JKN defaulted on payments to investors beginning in 2023 and began debt rehabilitation procedures with the Central Bankruptcy Court in 2024. The company says it has debts totaling about 3 billion baht ($93 million).
JKN acquired the rights to the Miss Universe pageant from IMG Worldwide LLC in 2022. In 2023, it sold 50% of its Miss Universe shares to Legacy Holding Group USA, which is owned by a Mexican businessman, Raúl Rocha Cantú.
Jakkaphong, who is transgender, resigned from all of the company’s positions in June after being accused by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission of falsifying the company’s 2023 financial statements. She remains its largest shareholder.
Her whereabouts remain unclear. She did not appear at the 74th Miss Universe competition, which was held in Bangkok earlier this month.
This year’s competition was marred by various problems, including a sharp-tongued scolding by a Thai organizer of Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico, who was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Nov. 19. Two judges reportedly dropped out, with one suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. Separately, Thai police investigated allegations that publicity for the event included illegal promotion of online casinos.
On Monday, JKN denied rumors that Jakkaphong had liquidated the company’s assets and fled the country, but there has been no immediate reaction regarding the arrest warrant. She could not be reached for comment.
Jakkaphong is a well-known celebrity in Thailand who has starred in reality shows and is outspoken about her identity as a transgender woman.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Scammers particularly use the holiday season to steal your money and information.Hoping consumers will let down their guard, or just trying to spoof legitimate businesses, scammers will do everything they can to take advantage of your vulnerability or generosity.Chase and the Baltimore Police Department recently hosted a scam education event to show consumers how to protect themselves. Some of their tips are listed below.Holiday shopping: What to knowShop with trusted retailers: Stick to reputable websites when shopping online. If you’re unfamiliar with a store, search for its name along with terms like “scam,” “complaints” or “reviews” to uncover any red flags.Verify website URLs: Scammers can create fake websites that look like legitimate retailers. Ensure the URL starts with “https://” as the “s” stands for secure. Avoid clicking links from unsolicited emails or texts.Beware of unrealistic deals: Scammers lure buyers by offering massive discounts on popular or sold-out items. If a deal seems too good to be true, it’s likely a scam.How you pay matters: Credit cards and debit cards offer different protections than cash or payment transfer apps, like Zelle and Venmo. Remember, only use apps like Zelle to pay others you know and trust.Shopping on public Wi-Fi: Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi when making an online purchase. Scammers can intercept your personal information on unsecured networks.Use digital tools: Trusted financial institutions offer credit and identity monitoring, including alerts to inform you when your data is exposed in a data breach or on the dark web.Online deals that are too good to be trueWhen shopping online or on social media, buy only from trusted websites and vendors. If purchasing on a marketplace, stay on the platform to complete transactions and communicate with sellers, as protections often only apply when you use the platform.Use payment methods that offer buyer protection. Never send money to strangers, particularly via payment-transfer apps like Zelle or Venmo, for purchases, especially when you can’t confirm the goods exist. Missed packages or problems with deliveryExpecting a package? Be cautious of phishing messages through email or text message that impersonate delivery services, like the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or FedEx, with links to view “missed deliveries.” These links may lead to fake sign-in pages to capture your actual password or to malware-infected sites.Do not respond to messages requesting personal or financial information, including money or cryptocurrency. Be wary of unexpected packages and avoid scanning QR codes, as they may be attempts to steal your information.Scams: Fake refunds, quishing, phishing/smishing, whalingRefund scams: Another scam doesn’t demand payment. Instead, it dangles a refund, sometimes via text messages posing as official messages from “Department of Taxation,” urging recipients to “click here to claim your refund.” The texts look legitimate at a glance, but they are designed to lure you into tapping a fraudulent link and handing over personal information. Cybersecurity experts are warning about scammers using QR codes to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. The practice called “quishing” uses a QR code that sends you to a dummy website to get your information — and money.When it comes to phishing, the term is more widely known, but people are still falling for it. Phishing emails or texts (known as “smishing”) attempt to trick a recipient into clicking a suspicious link, filling out information or downloading a malware file.Whaling attacks generally target leaders or other executives with access to large amounts of information at an organization or business. Whaling attacks can target people in payroll offices, human resources and financial offices as well as leadership. Video below: An expert’s tips to avoid falling for QR code scamsGift card scamsBe cautious about buying gift cards from third-party sites. Scammers will pre-save card details or sell expired cards.Don’t respond to an unsolicited email or text message offering you a gift card because it’s often a way to track your online activity.Don’t fall for scammers asking you to pay for services or goods using gift cards.Video below: Guide to selling gift cards securely onlinePhony charitiesThe holidays are also a season of giving, but before you donate money, double-check the contact and payment information for a charity.Beware of text, email or phone call solicitations. Like any other unsolicited message, don’t click on links or open attachments because they may contain malware or try to steal your information.Travel scamsScammers try to mimic or impersonate popular travel websites by recreating familiar branding, logos or company verbiage.As part of your travel research, do scam checks by looking up unfamiliar retail, travel and services websites by searching online for their names along with terms like “scam,” “complaints” or “reviews.”Chase advises using a credit card to book travel so that if an issue arises, you can dispute it.What to do if you fall victim to a scamVideo below: Steps to take immediately after falling for a scamStop communication: Discontinue all contact with the scammer immediately to prevent further damage.Document everything: Take note of all relevant information, including the scammer’s contact details and any information that may be useful when reporting the incident.Contact your bank: Report the incident and verify recent transactions to ensure there is no fraudulent activity on your account.Report the incident: File a police report or an inquiry to the Federal Trade Commission for official documentation.Monitor for identity theft: Sign up for credit and identity monitoring to receive alerts when your personal information has been leaked in a data breach or shows up on the dark web.Change your passwords: Update your online accounts by creating strong passwords, particularly if the scam involved accessing your personal information.Share your experience: Let friends and family know what happened to raise awareness about the signs of scams and help others avoid falling victim. Remember that financial scams can, and do, happen to anyone, so don’t feel embarrassed.Remain on high alert for follow-up scams: Scammers might attempt to target you again, especially if they know you’ve fallen victim before. Be cautious of unsolicited communications.
Scammers particularly use the holiday season to steal your money and information.
Hoping consumers will let down their guard, or just trying to spoof legitimate businesses, scammers will do everything they can to take advantage of your vulnerability or generosity.
Chase and the Baltimore Police Department recently hosted a scam education event to show consumers how to protect themselves. Some of their tips are listed below.
Holiday shopping: What to know
Shop with trusted retailers: Stick to reputable websites when shopping online. If you’re unfamiliar with a store, search for its name along with terms like “scam,” “complaints” or “reviews” to uncover any red flags.
Verify website URLs: Scammers can create fake websites that look like legitimate retailers. Ensure the URL starts with “https://” as the “s” stands for secure. Avoid clicking links from unsolicited emails or texts.
Beware of unrealistic deals: Scammers lure buyers by offering massive discounts on popular or sold-out items. If a deal seems too good to be true, it’s likely a scam.
How you pay matters: Credit cards and debit cards offer different protections than cash or payment transfer apps, like Zelle and Venmo. Remember, only use apps like Zelle to pay others you know and trust.
Shopping on public Wi-Fi: Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi when making an online purchase. Scammers can intercept your personal information on unsecured networks.
Use digital tools: Trusted financial institutions offer credit and identity monitoring, including alerts to inform you when your data is exposed in a data breach or on the dark web.
Online deals that are too good to be true
When shopping online or on social media, buy only from trusted websites and vendors. If purchasing on a marketplace, stay on the platform to complete transactions and communicate with sellers, as protections often only apply when you use the platform.
Use payment methods that offer buyer protection. Never send money to strangers, particularly via payment-transfer apps like Zelle or Venmo, for purchases, especially when you can’t confirm the goods exist.
Missed packages or problems with delivery
Expecting a package? Be cautious of phishing messages through email or text message that impersonate delivery services, like the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or FedEx, with links to view “missed deliveries.”
These links may lead to fake sign-in pages to capture your actual password or to malware-infected sites.
Do not respond to messages requesting personal or financial information, including money or cryptocurrency. Be wary of unexpected packages and avoid scanning QR codes, as they may be attempts to steal your information.
Refund scams: Another scam doesn’t demand payment. Instead, it dangles a refund, sometimes via text messages posing as official messages from “Department of Taxation,” urging recipients to “click here to claim your refund.” The texts look legitimate at a glance, but they are designed to lure you into tapping a fraudulent link and handing over personal information.
Cybersecurity experts are warning about scammers using QR codes to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. The practice called “quishing” uses a QR code that sends you to a dummy website to get your information — and money.
When it comes to phishing, the term is more widely known, but people are still falling for it. Phishing emails or texts (known as “smishing”) attempt to trick a recipient into clicking a suspicious link, filling out information or downloading a malware file.
Whaling attacks generally target leaders or other executives with access to large amounts of information at an organization or business. Whaling attacks can target people in payroll offices, human resources and financial offices as well as leadership.
Video below: An expert’s tips to avoid falling for QR code scams
Gift card scams
Be cautious about buying gift cards from third-party sites. Scammers will pre-save card details or sell expired cards.
Don’t respond to an unsolicited email or text message offering you a gift card because it’s often a way to track your online activity.
Don’t fall for scammers asking you to pay for services or goods using gift cards.
Video below: Guide to selling gift cards securely online
Phony charities
The holidays are also a season of giving, but before you donate money, double-check the contact and payment information for a charity.
Beware of text, email or phone call solicitations. Like any other unsolicited message, don’t click on links or open attachments because they may contain malware or try to steal your information.
Travel scams
Scammers try to mimic or impersonate popular travel websites by recreating familiar branding, logos or company verbiage.
As part of your travel research, do scam checks by looking up unfamiliar retail, travel and services websites by searching online for their names along with terms like “scam,” “complaints” or “reviews.”
Chase advises using a credit card to book travel so that if an issue arises, you can dispute it.
What to do if you fall victim to a scam
Video below: Steps to take immediately after falling for a scam
Stop communication: Discontinue all contact with the scammer immediately to prevent further damage.
Document everything: Take note of all relevant information, including the scammer’s contact details and any information that may be useful when reporting the incident.
Contact your bank: Report the incident and verify recent transactions to ensure there is no fraudulent activity on your account.
Report the incident: File a police report or an inquiry to the Federal Trade Commission for official documentation.
Monitor for identity theft: Sign up for credit and identity monitoring to receive alerts when your personal information has been leaked in a data breach or shows up on the dark web.
Change your passwords: Update your online accounts by creating strong passwords, particularly if the scam involved accessing your personal information.
Share your experience: Let friends and family know what happened to raise awareness about the signs of scams and help others avoid falling victim. Remember that financial scams can, and do, happen to anyone, so don’t feel embarrassed.
Remain on high alert for follow-up scams: Scammers might attempt to target you again, especially if they know you’ve fallen victim before. Be cautious of unsolicited communications.
A Minnesota judge acquitted a man on multiple charges after a jury found him guilty of aiding and abetting theft, sparking backlash from conservatives on social media.
Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Judge Sarah West on Thursday granted a motion for acquittal filed by Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf on charges related to fraud at a company he owned, Promise Health Services LLC. West ruled that the state’s case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence.”
“While the Court is troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated at Promise, the State’s evidence did not exclude other reasonable, rational inferences that are inconsistent with Mr. Yusuf’s guilt,” West wrote.
Why It Matters
Earlier this year, a national association of federal judges said there has been a “rise in criticism, threats and violence aimed at members of the judiciary.”
“Specific decisions issued by judges are not formed from individual opinions, but rather are prepared against evaluation of what the ‘laws on the books’ require,” the Federal Judges Association said in a statement in March.
What To Know
The judge’s ruling has been criticized by conservatives. Republican Minnesota State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Kristin Robbins told KARE that she was “stunned” by the decision.
“I was surprised to see the judge overturned a jury’s guilty verdict & acquit a defendant in a $7.2 million fraud case involving Medicaid,” she wrote on X. “I will be looking at ways to strengthen state law so fraud cases can be successfully prosecuted in state court.”
Conservative social media activist Robby Starbuck wrote on X: “Judge Sarah West didn’t just overturn a jury who convicted Abdifatah Yusuf of stealing millions from taxpayers, she didn’t even really explain why except that he could’ve not been guilty. Judges like this are destroying trust in our system. We need MAJOR change to restore trust.”
A representative for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office told Newsweek:“The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is appealing.”
“Judge West’s 55-page order meticulously considered the facts and faithfully applied the law. It affirms what we have maintained from the very beginning: that Abdifatah Yusuf did not commit fraud or racketeering,” Yusuf’s attorney, Ian Birrell, told Newsweek. “The Court’s Order affirms the fundamental principle that justice requires both fairness and proof. We appreciate the Court’s thorough consideration of all the proceedings and we are confident Mr. Yusuf’s innocence will be affirmed through the appeal process.”
Yusuf was charged with one count of racketeering and six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle in June 2024 in connection with fraudulent claims submitted by Promise Health Services to Medicaid for reimbursement. Prosecutors alleged that Yusuf’s fraud cost the Medicaid program more than $7.2 million.
The court acquitted Yusuf of racketeering on August 12 of this year. Later that day, the jury returned guilty verdicts on each remaining count.
West ruled that there is a “reasonable, rational inference” that Yusuf owned Promise Health Services and was involved on paper, but his brother was the one “committing the fraud and operating the business in a reckless manner without Mr. Yusuf’s knowledge or involvement.”
“The State simply wants to show that there is fraud at Promise, therefore Mr. Yusuf knew and intentionally aided in the same,” West wrote. “However, the State overinflates the actual fraud in their investigation and presentation, failed to provide actual circumstantial evidence tying Mr. Yusuf to his brother’s activities, and the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction for the six counts of Aiding and Abetting Theft By Swindle.”
What People Are Saying
Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Judge Sarah West, in an order: “The Court is concerned about the fraud that occurred at Promise. The way this case was presented and the failure by the State to actually connect the dots, even through clear inference from circumstantial evidence, that Mr. Yusuf knowingly assisted in the fraud is more than concerning. The trier of fact, and this Court upon review, should not be in a place of having to dig through and work to interpret the volumes of evidence to establish the State’s case.”
Republican Minnesota State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Kristin Robbins told KARE: “I was stunned. We want to strengthen state law so that we can get prosecutions out of these cases. Because clearly a jury thought he was guilty.”
What Happens Next
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said it is appealing the decision.
Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
A 24-year-old man has been ordered by a federal judge to pay nearly $48 million in restitution and sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the U.S., the Department of Justice said Monday.
Abdimajid Mohamed Nur of Shakopee, Minnesota, was one of the first 47 people charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme in 2022. Nur is also accused of bribing a juror in the case and later pleaded guilty to that charge.
He and six other defendants fraudulently received around $40 million between May 2020 and January 2022, according to the indictment filed in September 2022, though federal officials said that they stole more than $47 million.
Prosecutors said the scheme carried out by the seven people originated at Empire Cuisine and Market in Shakopee. The halal market enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program in April 2020, and participated both as a site and meal vendor, according to court documents.
“Empire Cuisine and Market would be reimbursed for the cost of the food and meals it actually provided to the public,” the indictment said.
Nur and his co-conspirators “immediately opened several” food program sites and began falsely claiming to be serving meals to thousands of children per day, according to court documents. The meals would be reimbursed by the federal food program.
Court documents said Nur also created Nur Consulting LLC in April 2021 to receive and launder Federal Child Nutrition Program funds from Empire Cuisine and Market and other entities involved in the scheme.
Nur in September 2022 was charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of money laundering, according to the indictment. He was found guilty in June 2024 of 10 of the 13 counts he faced.
The judge ordered Nur to pay a total of $47,920,514 in restitution and sentenced him to three years of supervised release to be served after his 10-year prison sentence.
A 24-year-old man has been ordered by a federal judge to pay nearly $48 million in restitution and sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the U.S., the Department of Justice said Monday.
Abdimajid Mohamed Nur of Shakopee, Minnesota, was one of the first 47 people charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme in 2022. Nur is also accused of bribing a juror in the case and later pleaded guilty to that charge.
He and six other defendants fraudulently received around $40 million between May 2020 and January 2022, according to the indictment filed in September 2022, though federal officials said that they stole more than $47 million.
Prosecutors said the scheme carried out by the seven people originated at Empire Cuisine and Market in Shakopee. The halal market enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program in April 2020, and participated both as a site and meal vendor, according to court documents.
“Empire Cuisine and Market would be reimbursed for the cost of the food and meals it actually provided to the public,” the indictment said.
Nur and his co-conspirators “immediately opened several” food program sites and began falsely claiming to be serving meals to thousands of children per day, according to court documents. The meals would be reimbursed by the federal food program.
Court documents said Nur also created Nur Consulting LLC in April 2021 to receive and launder Federal Child Nutrition Program funds from Empire Cuisine and Market and other entities involved in the scheme.
Nur in September 2022 was charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of money laundering, according to the indictment. He was found guilty in June 2024 of 10 of the 13 counts he faced.
The judge ordered Nur to pay a total of $47,920,514 in restitution and sentenced him to three years of supervised release to be served after his 10-year prison sentence.
