Federal Agents Crack Down on Super Bowl Fakes
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Federal and local authorities are trying to stop the sale of counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise in the days leading up to the game by seizing fakes.
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Hackers reprogrammed the Web site for the Super Bowl stadium so it would automatically load a malicious script, security firm said.
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In an attempt to stem the growing tide of online scams, identity theft and the proliferation of junk e-mail, the Justice Department and state law enforcement officials have initiated what
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(InfoWorld) - Three U.S. agencies have initiated more than 100 law enforcement actions against bogus business-opportunity peddlers and work-at-home scams, including several Internet-based schemes. The Project FAL$E HOPE$ crackdown, announced Tuesday but in operation for most of the year, targeted scammers in 11 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Maryland. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Postal Inspection Service worked with law enforcement agencies in those states to take action against the alleged fraudsters. Project FAL$E HOPE$ includes new cases announced Tuesday, developments in existing cases, criminal convictions, and state actions. The project also announced new education material for advertising sales staff, aimed at helping screen ads for bogus business opportunities. Included in nine cases the FTC announced Tuesday: -- The Results Group: Working out of what the FTC called a boiler room in Phoenix, the operation charged between $99 and $599 to build and host Web sites "affiliated" with the sites of large retailers such as Amazon.comÂ and Overstock.com, the FTC said. Consumers could supposedly make money when those retailers paid commissions for sales made through the consumersâ Web sites. In fact, the large retailers were unaware of any such affiliation, and consumers made no money. The FTC accused the operation of falsely representing that purchasers would receive substantial income as well as substantial assistance from an expert staff, and using false and misleading statements to encourage consumers to buy the business opportunity. -- Money Making Secret: These defendants promised "Top 12 Programs to Make Big Money!" and charged consumers between $47 and $129 to access a "members only" Web site with "money-making secrets," the FTC said. The Internet-based programs that were offered varied, including online survey programs, free government grant money programs, mystery shopper programs, and online data-entry programs. However, these programs did not exist, or did not offer easy money with little time or effort, as promised, the FTC said. The FTC's complaint charges the defendants with making false and unsubstantiated earnings claims. The FTC also has new guidance for publishers, offering them help to screen out deceptive ads for business opportunities. The alert, "Ads for Business Opportunities: How to Detect Deception," suggests advertising sales staff to give an extra look at ads that make claims such as: "No risk! Guaranteed" "Quick and Easy!" "Earn $2,000 a month." The FTC alert warns that legitimate business ventures involve risks, and start-up businesses require a lot of work to get off the ground. The law requires earnings claims in ads be accompanied by the number and percentage of previous purchasers who achieved the income, the FTC said.
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The U.S. Secret Service is working with police in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to investigate an international counterfeiting operation that produces fake $100 bills that have been seized in the United States and Israel, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
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Appearances can be deceiving. Take, for example, the case of Tom Brady, which was so thoroughly scrutinized last week.
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Dogs trained to detect explosives, especially the kind used by Islamic extremists, will help secure next month's Super Bowl, the biggest event in the U.S. sporting calendar, law authorities said on Monday.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a spate of bomb threats phoned in to businesses that resulted in employeesâ wiring thousands of dollars overseas.
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Major League Baseball officials have taken steps to contact federal investigators involved in a crackdown on the import of Chinese steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to determine whether baseball players are entangled in the probe, an MLB spokesman said yesterday.
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U.S. agents arrested about 195 people in more than a dozen states in a crackdown on illegal immigrants involving a maintenance business for theme restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, officials said on Thursday.
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Roddy White and four other Atlanta Falcons were fined by the N.F.L. for violating uniform regulations by âdisplaying an unauthorized personal messageâ about Michael Vick.
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FBI officials aren't clear on the motivation that led hackers to deface a handful of gaming sites last week, adding an FBI seal to the pages as well as a fake announcement that the site had been seized by the law-enforcement organziation for piracy.
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Federal law enforcement officials descended on a home owned by Michael Vick on Thursday armed with a search warrant that suggests they're taking over an investigation into the Falcons quarterback's possible involvement in dogfighting.
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The Hollywood studios  have figured out how to counterprogram against the behemoth  weekend television event that is Super Bowl Sunday.
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InfoWorld - Security experts are finding an increasing number of Web sites hosting malicious JavaScript code first&#160;detected on Super Bowl-related sites&#160;last week.
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The New England Patriots are preparing to hand over requested materials to NFL officials as the league continues its investigation into the team's signal-stealing tactics.
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Â A group representing online merchants said it helped the U.S. Department of Justice hunt down online scam artists, in an sweep of online criminals dubbed "Operation Web Snare."