Latest Fraud Headlines
All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Viewpoint: Rampant Fraud in Staged Accidents
Sep 19 2025 // It should come as no surprise that Hollywood has not made many movies about insurance—arguably among the least glamorous of industries. However, there are three insurance-themed films worth watching. Two from the 1940s...
NICB: Vehicle Thefts in First Half 2025 Down 23% From Last Year
Sep 18 2025 // U.S. vehicle thefts fell 23% in the first six months of 2025 from the first half of last year, a report out Wednesday from the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows. There were 334,114 vehicle thefts reported in the first...
ChatGPT Was Used ‘to Help Scammers Do Their Thing’ at Asia Fraud Compound
Sep 17 2025 // Duncan Okindo says he was lured to Southeast Asia last year by the promise of a customer service job in Thailand. Instead, he ended up spending four months in a scam compound on the lawless Myanmar-Thai border, where he...
Former Executive of Mars Candy Subsidiary Pleads Guilty to Stealing $28M
Sep 16 2025 // A former executive for a subsidiary of candymaker Mars Inc. pleaded guilty last Thursday to fraud and tax charges in connection with his theft of $28 million from the company, federal prosecutors said. Paul Steed, 58,...
South Dakota Father and Son to Pay $4M in Crop Insurance Fraud Case
Sep 4 2025 // A South Dakota father and son have been ordered to pay over $4 million to resolve violations of the False Claims Act arising out of their 2018 and 2019 crop insurance fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,...
Pennsylvania Man Charged in $400 Million ATM Fraud
Sep 4 2025 // A Pennsylvania man has been charged with tricking people into investing money he claimed would be used to buy thousands of automated teller machines, causing more than $400 million of investor losses, U.S. authorities said...
Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring in Illinois Underground Mine Fire Fraud
Sep 3 2025 // A Kentucky man entered a guilty plea to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in relation to an underground fire that occurred in the MC#1 Mine in Franklin County, Illinois, in August...
Kansas Woman Sentenced for Insurance Fraud
Sep 2 2025 // A Kansas woman has been sentenced to 12 months of probation for insurance fraud. Kenna Robinson, 50, pleaded guilty in the Douglas County District Court to one felony count of insurance fraud. Robinson involved multiple...
Husband and Wife Insurance Agents Charged With $700K Fraud Scheme
Aug 29 2025 // A Massachusetts couple was arrested this week for their alleged involvement in a scheme that defrauded at least 50 individuals or insurance providers of more than $700,000 through their insurance agency, BL Insurance...
Anthropic Thwarts Hacker Attempts to Misuse Claude AI for Cybercrime
Aug 28 2025 // Anthropic said on Wednesday it had detected and blocked hackers attempting to misuse its Claude AI system to write phishing emails, create malicious code and circumvent safety filters. The company’s findings,...
Man Staged Theft of His Own Vehicle for Insurance Money
Aug 28 2025 // A New York man admitted he staged the theft of his own car in order to collect on his insurance funds Jonathan D. Martinelli pled guilty in May to a charge of third-degree insurance fraud in Union County Superior Court in...
Owner of Water Machine Manufacturer Charged in $275 Million Fraud Scheme
Aug 25 2025 // The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Ryan Wear, of Marysville, Washington, and his entities, Water Station Management LLC and Creative Technologies, Inc., for operating two related Ponzi-like schemes between...
Trump $464 Million NY Civil Fraud Penalty Vacated on Appeal
Aug 21 2025 // A New York appeals court struck down a $464 million fraud fine against President Donald Trump and his company, handing him a victory over the state’s attorney general. In a decision issued Thursday, the Manhattan...
Markets/Coverages: Inigo Provides Excess DIC/DIL Cover on Financial Fraud Policies
Aug 19 2025 // Inigo Ltd., the Lloyd’s specialty insurer, has launched a product that provides top-up cover on financial fraud policies. The product, called Inigo Crime Excess, is an excess DIC/DIL (difference in conditions and...
North Carolina Man Charged With More Than $1M in Travel Insurance Fraud
Aug 19 2025 // Investigators with the North Carolina Department of Insurance last week charged a man with swindling almost $1 million and attempting to gain another $887,500 from travel insurance companies from 2020 to 2024. Michael...
New Mexico Governor Declares State of Emergency in County Afflicted by Crime
Aug 15 2025 // The governor of New Mexico declared a state of emergency in response to violent crime and drug trafficking across a swath of northern New Mexico, including two Native American pueblo communities. The emergency declaration...
Texas Crime Labs Say They Need More Resources for a THC Ban
Aug 14 2025 // As Texas lawmakers debate whether to regulate or ban THC products, officials with the state’s crime labs say they don’t have the resources currently to enforce whatever law is passed. “From a crime lab...
New York AG Sues Zelle, Claims Lax Security Led to $1 Billion Consumer Fraud Losses
Aug 14 2025 // Zelle was sued on Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said the electronic payment platform’s refusal to adopt critical safety features enabled fraudsters to steal more than $1 billion from...
Michigan Man to Stand Trial for Insurance Fraud
Aug 13 2025 // A Michigan financial advisor will stand trial for insurance fraud after waiving preliminary examination, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced this week. Todd Bernstein, 67, of Birmingham, is alleged to have submitted...
Do Kwon Pleads Guilty to US Fraud Charges in $40B Crypto Collapse
Aug 12 2025 // Do Kwon, the South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that lost an estimated $40 billion in 2022, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two U.S. charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud. Kwon,...
