WMR: Romney "family values" campaign cash siphoned from Chinese gamblers

WMR has discovered that the campaign of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been receiving campaign cash donations from U.S.-owned casinos in the Macau Special Administrative Region, mostly though the auspices of Republicans Abroad, which maintains a large and active chapter in Hong Kong that also covers expatriate Republicans in Macau and the Guangdong province of southern China.

Three of the six casino operators in Macau are American-owned: Sheldon Adelson's Sands China, Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts casino, and MGM, which is owned by private investors. Gambling is legal in Macau and the casinos draw millions of visitors from countries where gambling remains illegal: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and a number of other countries in the region. Adelson and Wynn are supporters of the Republican Party.

Although Macau has instituted a "responsible gaming" program that seeks to deter gambling addicts, the Chinese are avid gamblers and the number of pawn shops in Macai attests to the fact that many Chinese and Hong Kong residents will hock everything from their wedding rings to expensive wristwatches to hit it big at the casinos.

Romney frequently talks about his commitment to "family values," yet his campaign is flush with money from Chinese gamblers whose addictions have broken apart families through divorce and even suicide.

Although Macau gaming authorities ensure that the casinos pay 42 percent tax to the Macau government, there are no tax declarations, such as those required by the Internal Revenue Service in the United States, made by casino winners, including high-stakes gamblers, at the Macau casinos.

In a variation of the infamous 1960s-era Las Vegas "skim," which saw the Italian mob pocket before-tax casino profits, the Macau skim that profits the Romney campaign is through tax-free winnings by high-stake gamblers in super-private VIP rooms. The unreported cash winnings are laundered through the maximally-allowed donations from southern China's Republicans Abroad, which is based in Hong Kong.

What is even more astounding is that the FBI's Legal Attache's office in Hong Kong is aware of the unique skim.

An agent from the FBI's Hong Kong office frequently travels to Macau to meet with security officials of the U.S.-owned casinos. WMR has learned from Hong Kong intelligence sources that the FBI has an arrangement with the Adelson-owned casinos to conduct covert surveillance operations of high-value guests, including senior Chinese government officials.

In return, the FBI has looked the other way as taxable cash "won" by Republicans abroad is funneled into the Romney campaign as legal "private" donations.

One ex-FBI agent who headed up security for the Sands Macau at its start-up in 2004 left his job after discovering certain practices that he termed "scary."

Adelson has been a multi-million dollar donor to the presidential campaigns of Romney and Newt Gingrich. However, partly as a result of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that recognizes corporations as people as far as political donations are concerned, campaign cash can be derived from a variety of sources, although foreign donations remain illegal.

What has been established in Macau is a virtual foreign cash source for Romney, one that has the appearance of legality through Republicans Abroad, but which is, nevertheless, illegal.

Adelson and Wynn have been at the center of an investigation over the payment of bribes to Macau officials.

The Adelson matter arose from charges made by the former CEO of Sands China, Steve Jacobs, after he was fired by Adelson. Jacobs charged that Adelson wanted to increase the availability of prostitutes at his Macau casinos: The Sands, The Venetian, the Sheraton Cotai Central, and The Plaza, to increase profits, which are generally down in Macau.

However, WMR found no evidence of rampant prostitution at Sands properties. Sands security appears to run a tight ship on the prostitution angle.

Cryptogon.com : FBI Quietly Forms Secretive Net-Surveillance Unit

Prior to GW Bush, NSA was restricted to surveillance of foregn nations and it was not allowed to engage in domestic surveillance.

Today, both the FBI and Homeland Security are competing for the cyber warfare budgets. Ultimately, only one federal agency should have this function.

See cryptogon.com » FBI Quietly Forms Secretive Net-Surveillance Unit

graphic source: http://blog.logrhythm.com

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Court forces FBI to turn off 3,000 GPS monitoring devices

FBI GPS tracking device

The Supreme Court recently overturned the  warrantless use of GPS tracking devices.

The "U.S. v. Jones" decision has caused a big changes  inside the U.S. Justice Department.

FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann presented to a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century." He said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use.

The Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant was a violation of the law.

An Egyptian student found the device in the graphic under his car when he took his car to a mechanic for an oil change. 

Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, the Ninth Circuit in California and 8 other states said there was no requirement for a warrant prior to this kind of tracking.

Law enforcement could come onto your property and plant a tracking device on your car since you have no reasonable expectation of privacy on your driveway.

Now the police must first tray to get a warrant form a judge which means the police first have to provide justification for tracking a vehicle.

graphic source: http://www.securitygeneration.com

sources: WSJ and Cryptlogon

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FBI uses data from Carrier IQ rootkit

Muck Rock submitted an Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request to the FBI about whether it was using data from the Carrier IQ rootkit.

The FBI stated it did have documents that were exempt under a provision that covers materials that, if disclosed, might reasonably interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Rightardia was convinced form the beginning that the Carrier IQ rootkit was about government surveillance of cell phones. 

This technology was brought to you by the courtesy of the Patriot Act.

UPDATE

See http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/13/9417929-fbi-using-carrier-iq for more information.

Apparently Carrier IQ is saying there is a "bug" in the software that would allow its software to be used as a keylogger. A keylogger is dangerous malware that hackers, corporations and private detectives use to record every keystroke on a device like a PC.

Imagine a keylogger on a cell phone. it would completely breach a user's privacy and also use a lot of resources of the phone.

The government and IQ Carrier are falling allover themselves denying what the true purpose of this pernicious software is.

See http://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2011/dec/12/fbi-carrier-iq-files-used-law-enforcement-purposes/

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FBI tries to entrap Muslims in fake terror plots

The Guardian reports FBI is running sting operations across America, to entrap Muslims by luring them into fake terror plots.

The FBI is providing weapons and targets to lure gullible Islamic people.

See http://cryptogon.com/?p=26047
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WMR: FBI miffed over Eastwood movie

June 16, 2011 

The FBI, which, according to FBI sources has long maintained a good working relationship with actor-director Clint Eastwood, is miffed over the direction of Eastwood's upcoming movie, "J. Edgar," due for release later this year. 


The movie, starring Leonardo di Caprio as long-time FBI director J. Edgard Hoover, will, according to FBI sources, draw attention to Hoover's reported homosexual affair with his long-serving FBI deputy director Clyde Tolson.

FBI sources say that after the film's release, Eastwood should expect no further assistance from or any kind of future working relationship with the FBI.

Although the movie will not touch on Hoover's alleged cross-dressing, there will reportedly be scenes of Hoover kissing Tolson. 


During Hoover's tenure at the FBI, there were reports that the Mafia and FBI counter-intelligence agents were in possession of photographs showing intimate kissing between Hoover and Tolson. 


In the case of the Mafia, there were also reports that Meyer Lansky and other top mob figures had copies of photographs showing Hoover providing oral sex to Tolson. 


Hoover, realizing he was black-mailable by the Mafia, publicly stated on numerous occasions that there was no such thing as "organized crime" in the United States.

The filming of "J. Edgar" has taken place in Los Angeles; Warrenton, Virginia; and Washington, DC. 


In addition to Di Caprio in the starring role, the film will star Naomi Watts as Hoover's long-time secretary Helen Gandy; Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson; Judi Dench as Anne Marie Hoover, the mother of J. Edgar; and other actors playing the roles of Robert F. Kennedy, Colonel Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr.; Charles Lindbergh, and Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General Mitchell Palmer.


source: 

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FBI: Anti-Government Group convicted of making illegal US tender

Private Tender Mints Its Own Coins

04/05/11

Money doesn’t grow on trees. It also can’t be printed or minted by private citizens—as four co-conspirators in North Carolina and Indiana recently learned the hard way.

Last month, the founder and “monetary architect” of an illegal currency known as the Liberty Dollar was convicted in North Carolina on federal charges of making illegal coins and selling them—at a profit—to compete with legal U.S. currency. 

Bernard von NotHaus, of Evansville, Indiana, was found guilty of making coins resembling U.S. coins; issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money; and conspiring against the United States. Three others indicted in the case are awaiting their own trials.

“People understand that there is only one legal currency in the United States,” said Owen Harris, then-special agent in charge of our office in Charlotte. “When groups try to replace it with coins and bills that don’t hold the same value, it affects the economy. And consumers were using their hard-earned money to buy goods and services, then getting fake goods in return.”

It all began in 2004, when our Charlotte Division learned that a customer at a North Carolina financial institution had tried to use silver coins that were not legal U.S. currency. Our investigation revealed that the coins came from the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Codes (or NORFED), headquartered in Evansville, whose mission was to return the country’s monetary system to gold and silver. 

The president of the organization was Bernard von NotHaus, who marketed his currency as inflation-proof, claimed it was backed by silver and gold, and said it could be used to compete with—and limit reliance on—U.S. currency.

Our investigation, which included an undercover scenario, revealed that NORFED contracted for the minting of about $7 million worth of Liberty Dollars in Idaho. 

The organization also took orders and payments from customers for Liberty Dollars and organized “Liberty Dollar University” sessions to help educate people interested in selling, buying, or using the illegal currency. There was even a Liberty Dollar website.

NORFED used several groups of people to get its illegal coins into circulation:

During the course of the investigation, the U.S. Mint issued a press release warning that the Liberty Dollar was not legal tender and that the Department of Justice had determined that the use of these coins as circulating money was a federal crime. 

This press release was sent to known NORFED regional currency officers. Despite the warning, though, NORFED and its officers, members, and associates continued to break the law and circulate the illegal tender.

As with many of our other cases, we didn’t work this investigation alone. Providing tremendous assistance was the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Treasury’s Office of Inspector General for Tax Administration, North Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Mint.

The FBI is trying to confiscate $7 million in Liberty coins and metals from a warehouse.  


The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been tracking Bernard von NotHaus for years. An SPLC spokesperson, Mark Potok said:

He's playing on a core idea of the radical right, that evil bankers in the Federal Reserve are ripping you off by controlling the money supply. He very much exists in the world of the anti-government "patriot" movement, whatever he may say. That's who his customers are.

sources: FBI press release and http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20110404/feds.seek.liberty.dollars/

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FBI: South Florida Health Care Fraud Takedown

FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry, along

with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

Twenty individuals, including three doctors, were charged in South Florida earlier this week for their alleged participation in a fraud scheme involving $200 million in Medicare billing for mental health services.

That was just a precursor to today’s national federal health care fraud takedown involving charges against 111 defendants in nine cities in connection with their alleged participation in schemes to bilk Medicare out of an additional $225 million.

More than 700 law enforcement personnel from the FBI and Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), multiple Medicaid fraud control units, and other state and local law enforcement agencies took part in today’s operation, which was announced at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Putting some HEAT on Medicare crime. 

The Florida case and the cases involved in today’s takedown were the result of the Department of Justice/HHS Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team, or HEAT, initiative and its Medicare Fraud Strike Force operating in a number of U.S. cities.

In addition to Baton Rouge, Brooklyn, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Tampa, Attorney General Eric Holder announced at today’s press conference the expansion of the strike force into two more cities—Chicago and Dallas.

Medicare Strike Force members include federal, state, and local investigators who use data analysis techniques to identify high-billing levels in health care fraud hot spots, targeting chronic fraud and emerging or migrating schemes by criminals masquerading as health care providers or suppliers.

The Florida case

The indictment alleges that various defendants paid kickbacks to patient brokers and owners or operators of halfway houses and assisted living facilities for delivering patients to community mental health facilities owned by a particular corporation. The facilities would then submit claims to Medicare for services that weren’t medically necessary, or weren’t provided at all.


Nationwide fraud

The defendants charged in today’s takedown are accused of various fraud-related crimes, including conspiracy to defraud Medicare, criminal false claims, violations of the anti-kickback statutes, money laundering, and aggravated identify theft. Some of the cases include:

• Nine charged in Houston for $8 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for physical therapy, durable medical equipment, home health care, and chiropractor services.
• Five charged in Los Angeles for a scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $28 million by submitting false claims for durable medical equipment and home health care.
• Eleven charged in Chicago for conspiracies to defraud Medicare of $6 million related to false billing for home health care, diagnostic testing, and prescription drugs.

In addition to our involvement with HEAT and the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, the FBI remains committed to working additional health care fraud investigations with our partners at HHS-OIG, individual state Medicare fraud offices, and investigative units from major private insurance companies.

We also work jointly with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security to address drug diversion, Internet pharmacies, prescription drug abuse, and other health care fraud threats.

We’re currently working more than 2,600 pending health care fraud investigations. During fiscal year 2010, cooperative efforts with our law enforcement partners led to charges against approximately 930 individuals and convictions of almost 750 subjects. But perhaps even more satisfying—we dismantled dozens of criminal enterprises engaged in widespread health care fraud.

Resources:
- Press release
- EAD Shawn Henry's remarks at press conference
- More on our health care fraud efforts

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FBI: A Case of Florida Fraud With a Few Added Twists

01/25/11

This is another white collar scam of poor people, not unlike the mortgage scam.  How pathetic.

Under the sunny skies of southern Florida—specifically, those of Palm Beach County—more than two dozen conspirators spent the past four years stealing away some $10 million from 10 banks in the area through all manner of fraud and corruption.

That’s according to a series of federal charges—the latest coming just two weeks ago—filed by prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida following an FBI-led undercover investigation supported by our partners across the state.

But that’s just the beginning of the story. As it turns out, this was anything but your average white-collar case.
 
The investigation centered on a scam involving small business loans and lines of credit that worked more like a typical mortgage fraud scheme—loan recipients and/or straw buyers submitting fake documents to generate fast cash.  

Key to the swindle were bank insiders who took bribes to push the bogus paperwork through the system. 

Several of the bankers even became involved in a separate money laundering scheme, agreeing (at the behest of our undercover agent) to set up fake accounts to launder what they thought were illegal drug proceeds, in return for a percentage.  

And to top it off, in the process of uprooting these alleged acts investigators uncovered a separate set of crimes—a wave of identity theft targeting the same banks.

The alleged ringleader of the fraud scheme was the owner of a loan brokerage business called Palm Beach Business Consultants, or PBBC. 

The company specialized in fraudulently obtaining loans and lines of credit for clients in need of money fast—for a price, of course, and a steep one, ranging from $12,500 to $25,000 per pop.

According to the charges, the ringleader told clients he had connections with banks that could lend them money even though they may have lacked the income, credit scores, or collateral for legitimate loans or credit lines.

So he had his crooked workers draw up fraudulent loan and credit packages. In most cases, the applications were in the client’s name, but occasionally the name of a client’s friend or relative with good credit was used instead. Sometimes included on the fraudulent application was the name of an legitimate—but uninvolved—corporation to help seal the deal.

Next, PBBC employees submitted the bogus applications to bank officers on the take—who pocketed from $1,000 to $10,000 for their services. Once the applications were approved and funds distributed, PBBC clients were unable to repay the loans, and the banks were out millions.

So far in the case, 24 individuals have been indicted, including 17 involved in the financial frauds—the ringleader, seven bankers, six PBBC clients, one straw buyer, and two other men already convicted and sentenced.

The other seven conspirators were part of the unrelated identity theft ring that used the names and information of real people to create fictitious drivers’ licenses and other phony documents to not only steal from their bank accounts, but also try to obtain bank loans and credit in their names.

Once again, the case is a wake-up call for those trying to get easy money—whether through shady loans or souped-up returns on investments—without doing their due diligence.  

Remember, if it’s too good to be true, it most surely is.

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FBI breaks up human trafficking ring

Massive Case Involves 600 Thai Victims

01/28/11

It seemed pretty straightforward: labor recruiters in Thailand approached impoverished rural farm workers—who made around $1,000 (U.S.) 

annually—and offered jobs on American farms for higher pay. 
 
Many, hoping to provide a better life for their families, accepted the offer, which was made through an American company called Global Horizons, in the business of recruiting foreign workers to work in the U.S. agricultural industry. 

But once in the U.S., the Thai workers soon discovered a harsh reality: they worked for little or no pay, and they were held in place with threats and intimidation.  

Eventually, their plight became known to law enforcement, and earlier this month, after a multiagency investigation, two additional defendants—accused of being part of the scheme to hold 600 Thai nationals in forced agricultural labor—were indicted in federal court in Honolulu.

They joined six individuals who had been indicted last fall.


Among those indicted? 

The CEO of Global Horizons, several Global employees, and two Thai labor recruiters.

The latest indictment alleges a conspiracy among those indicted that began in 2001 and ran until 2007.

How the scheme worked.

Thai recruiters allegedly met with rural farm workers, promising them good salaries, lots of hours, decent housing, and an employment contract that guaranteed work for up to three years. All the workers had to do was sign the contract…and pay a “recruitment fee.”

The recruitment fees were substantial…anywhere between $9,500 and $21,000. And even though they were given the option of paying a portion of the fee upfront and the rest while working in the U.S., the workers still had to borrow money to pay the smaller amount and up their family’s land as collateral.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Global Horizons was soliciting client growers—at various agricultural conferences and through mailings—with offers to supply foreign agricultural workers.  

Conditions were tough.

According to the indictment, once in the U.S., workers found that the work was not as plentiful as they had been led to believe, the hours not as long, and the pay not as good (that is, when they were paid at all).  


While working on farms in places like Hawaii and in several other parts of the country, they sometimes lived under brutal circumstances: at one place, workers were crammed into a large shipping container, with no indoor plumbing or air conditioning. 

Guards were sometimes hired to make sure no one escaped the living quarters. And workers sometimes witnessed threats of violence or experienced it first-hand.

They were made to feel as though they had no way out: workers’ passports had been confiscated upon their arrival and they were told if they escaped, they would be arrested and sent back to Thailand, with no way to repay their debts and possibly leaving their families destitute.

Human trafficking investigations like these are—and will continue to be—a priority under the FBI’s Civil Rights Program. During fiscal year 2010 alone, we opened 126 human trafficking investigations and made 115 arrests, with the assistance of our law enforcement partners often working together on task forces and working groups.

But perhaps more gratifying, we were able to completely dismantle 12 human trafficking organizations. And resulting prosecutions led to $2.7 million in fines and restitution for the victims of human trafficking.

source: FBI press release

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FBI: Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Stealing Ford Trade Secrets

November 17, 2010 United States Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Michigan
Contact: (313) 226-9100

Former Ford employee Xiang Dong Yu, aka Mike Yu, 49, of Beijing, China, pleaded guilty today in federal court to two counts of theft of trade secrets, announced Barbara L. McQuade, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI.

According to the plea agreement in this case, Yu was a product engineer for the Ford Motor Company from 1997 to 2007 and had access to Ford trade secrets, including Ford design documents.

In December 2006, Yu accepted a job at the China branch of a U.S. company. On the eve of his departure from Ford and before he told Ford of his new job, Yu copied some 4,000 Ford documents onto an external hard drive, including sensitive Ford design documents.

Included in those documents were system design specifications for the engine/transmission mounting subsystem, electrical distribution system, electric power supply, electrical subsystem and generic body module, among others. Ford spent millions of dollars and decades on research, development, and testing to develop and continuously improve the design specifications set forth in these documents.

The majority of the design documents copied by the defendant did not relate to his work at Ford. On December 20, 2006, the defendant traveled to the location of his new employer in Shenzhen, China, taking the Ford trade secrets with him. On January 2, 2007, Yu e-mailed his Ford supervisor from China and informed him that he was leaving Ford’s employ.

FBI: Internet Crime Complaint Center Reaches 2 Million Entries

Washington, D.C. November 15, 2010
FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3691

Fairmont, WV—The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has logged its 2 millionth consumer complaint alleging online criminal activity. The milestone entry was submitted on November 9, 2010.

The IC3, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, became operational in May 2000 and received its 1 millionth complaint seven years later, on June 11, 2007. It took half that time to receive the 2 millionth complaint, which illustrates the IC3’s increased visibility and the continued growth of cyber crime.

The IC3 receives, develops, and refers cyber crime complaints to local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies. The IC3 gives cyber crime victims a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations.

Since its inception, the IC3 has referred 757,016 criminal complaints to law enforcement around the globe. The majority of referrals involved fraud in which the complainant incurred a financial loss. The total reported loss from these referrals is approximately $1.7 billion, with a median reported loss of more than $500 per complaint.*

Many complaints involved identity theft, such as loss of personally identifying data, and the unauthorized use of credit cards or bank accounts. The IC3 uses information from the complaints to detect emerging trends and proactively fight consumer victimization through educational efforts with project partners, various publications and the consumer education website, www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com.

Visit www.ic3.gov for more information.
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FBI: Denial of Service Phone Scam

06/21/10
Imagine getting hundreds or thousands of calls on your home, business, or cell phone, tying up the lines. When you answer, you hear anything from dead air to recorded messages, advertisements, or even phone sex menus.

It’s annoying, no doubt. But it could be more than that—it could be a sign that you’re being victimized by the latest scam making the rounds. This ”telephone denial-of-service attack“ could be the precursor to a crime targeting your bank accounts.

Denial-of-service attacks, by themselves, are nothing new—computer hackers use them to take down websites by flooding them with large amounts of traffic.

In a recent twist, criminals have transferred this activity to telephones, using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts to overwhelm the phone lines of unsuspecting citizens.

Why are they doing it? Turns out the calls are simply a diversionary tactic: while the lines are tied up, the criminals—masquerading as the victims themselves—are raiding the victims’ bank accounts and online trading or other money management accounts.

Here, in a nutshell, is how the whole thing works:

* Weeks or months before the phone calls start, a criminal uses social engineering tactics or malware to elicit personal information from a victim that this person’s bank or financial institution would have—like account numbers and passwords. Perhaps the victim responded to a bogus e-mail phishing for information, inadvertently gave out sensitive information during a phone call, or put too much personal information on social networking sites that are trolled by criminals.

* Using technology, the criminal ties up the victim’s various phone lines.

* Then, the criminal either contacts the financial institution pretending to be the victim…or pilfers the victim’s online bank accounts using fraudulent transactions. Normally, the institution calls to verify the transactions, but of course they can’t get through to the victim over the phone.

*  If the transactions aren’t made, the criminals sometimes re-contact the financial institution as the victim and ask for it to be done. Or they add their own phone number to victims’ accounts and just wait for the bank to call.

By the time the victim or the financial institution realizes what happens, it’s too late.

Republicans told us that women, blacks and Hispanics are no longer discriminated against

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Press Release
For Immediate Release
November 23, 2009

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

It was heartening to know that people aren't discriminated against any more and don't need voting rights, equal right or hate crime's protection any more.


According to the GOP, none of these laws are needed in the modern world.

Statistics released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation have a different spin. The FBI revealed that 7,783 criminal incidents involving 9,168 offenses were reported in 2008 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability. Published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Hate Crime Statistics, 2008, includes data about hate crime incidents submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2008, includes the following information:

* An analysis of the 7,780 single-bias incidents revealed that 51.3 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 19.5 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 16.7 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, and 11.5 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. One percent involved a bias against a disability.

* There were 5,542 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2008. Intimidation accounted for 48.8 percent of crimes against persons, simple assaults for 32.1 percent, and aggravated assaults for 18.5 percent. Seven murders were reported as hate crimes.

* There were 3,608 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; the majority (82.3 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. The remaining 17.7 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.

* Of the 6,927 known offenders, 61.1 percent were white and 20.2 percent were black. The race was unknown for 11.0 percent, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders

* The largest percentage (31.9 percent) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes; followed by 17.4 percent on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 11.7 percent at schools or colleges; 6.1 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.2 percent in churches, synagogues, or temples. The remaining 28.8 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.

To view the full report, visit http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2008/index.html.

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FBI: Phish attacks on small and medium sized businesses

For Immediate Release
November 3, 2009

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

Fraudulent Automated Clearing House (ACH) Transfers Connected to Malware and Work-at-Home Scams

As part of a continuing effort to identify the latest cyber crime trends and warn the public, the FBI today released the following information:

advanced keylogger 

Within the last several months, the FBI has seen a significant increase in fraudulent exploitatiion of valid online banking credentials belonging to small and medium businesses, municipal governments, and school districts.

In a typical scenario, the targeted entity receives a “spear phishing” e-mail which either contains an infected attachment, or directs the recipient to an infected website. Once the recipient opens the attachment or visits the website, malware is installed on their computer.

The malware contains a key logger which will harvest each recipient’s business or corporate bank account login information. Shortly thereafter, the perpetrator either creates another user account with the stolen login information or directly initiates funds transfers by masquerading as the legitimate user. These transfers have occurred as both traditional wire transfers and as ACH transfers.

The transfers are directed to the bank accounts of willing or unwitting individuals within the United States. Most of these individuals have been recruited via work-at-home advertisements, or have been contacted after placing resumes on well-known job search websites.

These persons are often hired to “process payments,” or “transfer funds.” They are told they will receive wire transfers into their bank accounts. Shortly after funds are received, they are directed to immediately forward most of the money overseas via wire transfer services such as Western Union and Moneygram.

Customers who use online banking services are advised to contact their financial institution to ensure they are employing all the appropriate security and fraud prevention services their institution offers.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has made information on banking securely online available at: http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/Banking_Securely_Online07102006.pdf

Protecting your computer against malicious software is an ongoing activity and, at minimum, all computer systems need to be regularly patched, have up-to-date anti-virus software, and have a personal firewall installed. Further information is available at: http://www.us-cert.gov/nav/nt01/

If you have experienced unauthorized funds transfers from your bank accounts, or if you have been recruited via a work-at-home opportunity to receive transfers and forward money overseas, please notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center by filing a complaint at: http://www.ic3.gov.

For a detailed analysis of this scam please visit http://www.ic3.gov/media/2009/091103-1.aspx

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FBI agents and analysts can examine connections visually in three dimensions.

07/31/09                                                             

  

Finding patterns among enormous amounts of related data exchanged among suspects is a huge challenge. But instead of wading through vast lists of such data in a traditional text-based way, such as in a spreadsheet, Special Technologies & Applications Office (STAO) created a cutting-edge visual solution called FANTOM that allows agents and analysts to examine connections visually in three dimensions.

When our agents are on the trail of suspected terrorists, with appropriate legal approval they can gain access to suspects’ e-mail, telephone calls, text messages, and even computer hard drives.

But after we collect what can amount to millions of pieces of digital data, what happens next? How can all that raw intelligence be organized, analyzed, and shared to help stop a terrorist plot before it’s too late?

The answer to those questions can be found within our STAO. In the high stakes arena of national security, STAO is one of our most technologically advanced players.

Using custom-designed tools and applications that are so innovative they are sometimes beyond state of the art, STAO’s specialty is teasing out critical information—a hidden video file on a hard drive, a key connection among tens of thousands of e-mails—from almost any form of electronic media.

Where digital evidence is concerned, STAO Section Chief Christopher “Todd” Doss explained, “we find the needle in the haystack.”

Created in the late 1990s and dramatically enhanced as a result of 9/11, the office consists of more than 200 people with expertise in various digital disciplines. And in addition to Bureau personnel, the team collaborates with some of the brightest computer scientists from private industry, academia, and other government agencies.

The primary goal of STAO is to provide investigators with tools to manage and analyze large volumes of digital intelligence, and to “cross-correlate” that information so it’s available not only to FBI personnel all over the world but also to our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence communities.

Is a piece of data from a cell phone in Southeast Asia linked to a terrorism case in Seattle? STAO applications can help connect the dots.

Some of STAO’s capabilities include:

Visual Analysis. Finding patterns among enormous amounts of related data exchanged among suspects is a huge challenge. Instead of wading through vast lists of such data in a traditional text-based way, such as in a spreadsheet, STAO created a visual solution called FANTOM that allows agents and analysts to examine connections visually in three dimensions.

Each data relationship of a suspect is represented on a large computer monitor by a single point, or "node." Lines, or "edges," between nodes indicate one or more communications made between suspects using a particular method. Using FANTOM, agents can easily find answers to important questions—“Which nodes were most active and most central to all the communications?"

"What communications were made at a particular date and time?" Or, "If two suspects exchanged text messages before planting an IED, who else were they texting?" This cutting-edge visual application enables the kind of interactive computing that can provide vital intelligence to investigators.

Malicious code analysis. STAO’s experts on malicious software—malware—work closely with our Cyber Division on matters including computer intrusions.

These experts are often called upon to testify in child pornography cases when defendants claim that a computer virus was responsible for downloading child porn on their computers. “We can tell if that was indeed the case,” an agent explained.

Data management. STAO maintains powerful, easy-to-use systems that can store seized digital files including text, audio, video, and photos. Approved users can search, filter, and share case information with others in the intelligence community—an invaluable tool in our fight against terrorism.

“The bottom line,” said one STAO official, “is that our office helps the Bureau and others do their jobs. And whenever we can help catch the bad guy on the criminal side, or provide intelligence on the counterterrorism side, that’s what we’re here for.”

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New Department of Interrogation?

The intelligence agency lost credibility with Congress over allegedly withholding from them a secret plan to assassinate al Qaeda members.

The team would recruit from the FBI, CIA, and Pentagon to find members who can "research, master,and conduct non-coercive interrogations of detainees," including techniques outside of the Army Field Manual, the current standard.

However, these procedures were not followed during many of the integrations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead Search and Rescue Escape and Evasion training  techniques used to train US combatants were used.  These were derived from a communist interrogation manual that was captured during the Korean War.


sources: The Daily Beast


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124787391051060705.html


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Free Enterprise in action: A DANGEROUS BETRAYAL

The Case of the Cash Hungry Contractor  
07/13/09  

The East Tennessee Technology Park. Courtesy of the Department of Energy.

Two hundred thousand dollars—not a huge sum of money in return for betraying one’s country. But that’s exactly how much money Roy Lynn Oakley asked for when he attempted to sell stolen parts of uranium enrichment equipment to someone he thought was an agent of a foreign government.

Oakley’s contact was an “agent” all right, but not from a foreign country—it was an undercover agent from the FBI.

How it all began. In January 2007, our Knoxville office learned that Oakley—an employee of the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge—was trying to sell restricted U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) materials.

The East Tennessee Technology Park was formerly known as the K-25 building, a DOE facility that opened during the 1940s and produced highly enriched uranium used in the manufacture of atomic weapons. DOE later shut down the facility and contracted with a company—Bechtel Jacobs—to dismantle and demolish the plant. Oakley was an employee of Bechtel Jacobs.

Working with DOE’s Office of Counterintelligence, we used sophisticated investigative techniques, interviews, and analysis of records to further pinpoint Oakley as a suspect.

The next phase. To catch Oakley in the act, we began an undercover operation. Our agent contacted Oakley and told him he was representing a foreign government and had heard that Oakley was offering to sell some classified materials. During recorded phone calls, Oakley said he had stolen parts of the uranium enrichment fuel rods and other related hardware items from his place of employment that he was willing to sell for $200,000.

Our undercover agent eventually agreed to the deal, and a face-to-face meeting was set up for January 26, 2007. Both parties showed up at the meeting place, money and classified components were exchanged, and Oakley was ultimately arrested and charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

Oakley’s confession. So why did he do it? Not because of any anti-U.S. ideology. Not because he was angry at his employer. No, he did it purely for the money. Oakley wanted to retire from Bechtel during 2007 but was deep in debt and needed cash.
He told us he took the materials home with him and kept them in a metal box…until he could find a buyer.

In January 2009, Oakley pled guilty to trying to sell these materials. He admitted that he knew the items were “restricted” and that they play a crucial role in the production of highly enriched uranium which is used for atomic weapons (through what’s called the gaseous diffusion process). In June, he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Knoxville to six years in prison.
Upon Oakley’s sentencing, Knoxville Special Agent in Charge Rick Lambert said, “Bringing to justice the trusted insider who would betray America for private gain remains the FBI’s highest priority.”


Resources:
- Press release on Oakley’s sentencing

source: FBI Press Release


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Thinking Outside of the Box: What kind of intelligence were the Republicans collecting?

We now know the Bush Administration went well beyond the bugging of the Internet with the 'President's Surveillance Program.' What exactly could President Bush have authorized?

We know the Bush administration was, in fact, targeting journalists and at least one politician, Bill Clinton.  It is possible they were also peeking into the computers of other Democrats. There was one case in which a Democratic server was secretly accessed by Republicans. Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee infiltrated Democratic computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media.

The president could have authorized NSA or the FBI to install Trojans on the PCs of political enemies. The NSA would have not only been able to track any documents created on the PC, they would have access to all passwords and the user's bank accounts. Any purchases the user made on the PC could also be tracked.

A lot of people aren't aware that Nielsen Media Reseach actually installs a Trojan on a volunteers PCs that does most of what what I have described above. Most of the volunteers think that Nielsen is just looking at the a user's browsing habits. in fact, Nielsen is also aware of any financial transactions such as banking or Ebay purchases on a PC that its 'software " is installed.

It also possible to remotely install key loggers that keep track of every key that is typed during the day. A lot of women bust their husbands with keyloggers. They check the husband's PC while he is away to find out if he has been carrying on an online romance. There are both software and hardware versions of keyloggers.

Did President Bush authorize the NSA or FBI to hack into American PCs? It would not surprise me. Many Republicans think they 'own America' and are above the law.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/22/infiltration_of_files_seen_as_extensive/


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Southern Poverty Law Center Urges Congress to Investigate Extremism in the Military

In a letter to committee chairmen with oversight over homeland security and the armed services, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said it recently found dozens of personal profiles on a neo-Nazi web site where individuals listed "military" as their occupation — the latest evidence of extremist infiltration gathered by the SPLC. It also cites FBI and Department of Homeland Security reports supporting the SPLC's concerns.

"Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces," SPLC founder Morris Dees wrote. He added, "Because the presence of extremists in the armed forces is a serious threat to the safety of the American public, we believe Congressional action is warranted."

The letter was sent to the chairmen of the House and Senate committees on Homeland Security and Armed Services. The SPLC has raised its concerns with Pentagon officials since publishing a report in 2006, but no apparent action has been taken.

In recent months, SPLC investigators found approximately 40 personal profiles that listed "military" as an occupation on the Internet forum New Saxon, which is operated by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. One individual, who claims to be serving in Afghanistan, lists as his favorite book The Turner Diaries, which was written by neo-Nazi leader William Pierce.

The book served as a blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh. Another individual said he was about to be deployed overseas and was looking forward to "killing all the bloody sand niggers." Still another spoke of his hatred for undocumented immigrants.

The SPLC has been involved with this issue for more than two decades. In 1986, the SPLC presented evidence to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger that Marines were participating in Ku Klux Klan paramilitary activities and urged him to prohibit all military personnel from being members of, or participating in, the activities of white supremacist groups. Although Weinberger issued a directive addressing extremist activity, it ultimately proved inadequate.

The SPLC again brought the problem to the attention of Pentagon officials in 1996, after three neo-Nazi soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg murdered a black couple in North Carolina in a ritualistic, racially motivated slaying. Pentagon regulations were strengthened following an investigation by an Army task force and hearings by the House Armed Services Committee.

But a decade later, military recruiters, under intense pressure to meet quotas for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, appear to have lowered recruiting standards, according to the SPLC's 2006 report. The report revealed that large numbers of neo-Nazi skinheads and other white supremacists were joining the armed forces to acquire combat training and access to weapons and explosives.

In 2008, the FBI released an unclassified report that supported the SPLC's findings. This past April, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report stating that right-wing extremists currently pose the most significant threat of domestic terrorism and expressing the concern that they may attempt to exploit the combat training and experience of returning veterans.

The SPLC letter notes that since 1994 the military has discharged more than 12,500 servicemembers simply because of their homosexuality. "It seems quite anomalous that the Pentagon would consider homosexuals more of a threat to the good order of the military than neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who reject our Constitution's most cherished principles," said Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, which monitors extremist activity.

The letter also says that "the overwhelming majority of U.S. servicemembers reject extremism and are dedicated to serving and protecting the highest ideals of our country" and notes that there will never be a fail-safe system to weed out all extremists. "But we owe it to our courageous men and women in uniform, and the American public, to remain vigilant to ensure that the ranks are as free of extremists as possible," Dees wrote.

source: http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=384

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	Southern Poverty Law Center 400 Washington Ave. Montgomery, AL 36104