Greatest Internet Scam

[From article]
The site claimed 37 million users, which, if true, would be an enormous percentage of America's married population. (That would be roughly half of all married people between the ages of 25 and 55. (Which sounded incredibly implausible.)
And now we know that Ashley Madison's claims were implausible. An investigation of the site's user database found that there were 31 million profiles for men. However, only 20 million male "users" ever bothered to check their Ashley Madison message box even once, and only 11 million male users ever engaged the website's chat function, even once. A lot of people clearly just signed up out of curiosity.
The database also shows that there were 5.5 million women on Ashley Madison-but when reporter Annalee Newitz drilled down into their user profiles, an astonishing number of these women appear to be fakes-that is, dummy accounts created by the Ashley Madison staff to make it look like there was a pool of women looking for action. And by "astonishing," I mean that it looks like the number of real, live women using the site was somewhere between 1,500 and 10,000.
Which suggests that Ashley Madison might have been the greatest internet scam, ever. They suckered a couple million guys into paying a boatload of money to have affairs with women who were nothing more than sockpuppets of Ashley Madison employees.
[. . .]
These were married men looking to have affairs. They were never going to risk public exposure by trying to go after the site for scamming them. It's the online dating equivalent of robbing a drug dealer.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ashley-madison-was-greatest-scam-ever_1024065.html

Ashley Madison Was the Greatest Scam Ever
12:24 PM, SEP 2, 2015

BY JONATHAN V. LAST

Fake IRS Agents Work Phone Scam

[From article]
Fake IRS agents have targeted more than 366,000 people with harassing phone calls demanding payments and threatening jail as part of a huge nationwide tax scam that has cost taxpayers $15.5 million.
More than 3,000 people have fallen for the ruse since 2013, Timothy Camus, a Treasury deputy inspector general for tax administration, said Thursday.
The scam has claimed victims in almost every state, Camus said. One unidentified victim lost more than $500,000.
"The criminals do not discriminate. They are calling people everywhere, of all income levels and backgrounds," Camus told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing. "The number of complaints we have received about this scam make it the largest, most pervasive impersonation scam in the history of our agency."
The scam is so widespread that investigators believe there is more than one group of perpetrators, including some overseas.
[. . .]
As part of the scam, fake IRS agents call taxpayers, claim they owe taxes, and demand payment using a prepaid debit card or a wire transfer. Those who refuse are threatened with arrest, deportation or loss of a business or driver's license, Camus said.
The callers might even know the last four digits of the taxpayer's Social Security number, Camus said.
They request prepaid debit cards because they are harder to trace than bank cards. Prepaid debit cards are different from bank cards because they are not connected to a bank account.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150312/us-irs-tax-scams-c02910afd9.html

Fake IRS agents target more than 366,000 in huge tax scam
Mar 12, 11:04 AM (ET)
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

Cambridge Police Warn of Phone Scams

Here's a seldom seen report from the City (or any) government providing helpful, reliable information to protect voters and taxpayers. Usually government bureaucrats issue press releases which celebrate their own interests and do nothing for taxpayers. What a delight to see some benefit to ordinary civilians for the money they provide for public officials. Thank you Det. O'Connor. Can you send me $100 so that I can get my car out of the pound? 

[From article]

Phone scams are a multi-million-dollar business for scammers, who mostly reside outside of the United States. With new scams popping up every day, trying to keep up with the current ones and the technology is difficult. Caller IDs may or may not show a real number, as scammers are taking to technology and using Caller ID spoofing to make their phone number appear as a legitimate number, like 911 or a police department.
[. . .]

If you have doubts about a phone call you received, contact the company or organization that "allegedly" called. If you receive any calls mentioned in this article, or anything suspicious, please hang up and contact the Cambridge Police at 617-349-3300.
If you have any questions about scams, you can contact Detective Brian O’Connor, CFCI Criminal Investigations Section, Financial and Computer Crimes Cambridge Police Department, 125 Sixth St., Cambridge, MA 02142; 617-349-9307; boconnor (at) cambridgepolice.org.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20141005/NEWS/141008870

Current trends in phone scams: Be alert and aware
By Det. Brian O’Connor
Cambridge Police Department
Posted Oct. 5, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

News To Lose

http://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-01-2013/news-you-should-lose.html

Are These 'Scams' for Real?
Get the facts on credit card fraud, ATM debit fees and more
by: Sid Kirchheimer,
AARP Bulletin
January 7, 2013