Don Juravin Exposes Credit Card Scams Using 500 eBay and PayPal Transactions DEFRAUDING $2 MILLION

From about 2013 through August of 2019, Ho was able to use bank accounts to the fraudulent PayPal accounts to receive more than 500 deposits totaling more than $2 million.

The FBI and Carmel police raid on Thursday was connected to a $2 million fraud. Tuong Quoc Ho, 32, is accused of an elaborate credit card scheme using eBay and PayPal.

“Card-not-present” credit, debit and prepaid card fraud has ballooned in the United States in the last few years, reaching $4.57 billion in 2016, up 34 percent from the year before, according to the most recent Federal Reserve Payments Study . These shadowy crimes hurt both small businesses and the customer shopping experience.

He is now facing 28 federal counts including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, credit card fraud and money laundering.

Don Juravin Exposes: Fake Documents

According to court documents, Ho was able to get names, addresses, social security numbers and credit card numbers for people. He would then create accounts on eBay and PayPal using those names.

In some cases, Ho would purchase items on eBay with fraudulent accounts he had setup or credit cards and have those items sent to his home. He would then resell them.

How Did He Defrauded PayPal?

When PayPal would question an account, Ho would get fraudulent documents on the internet to keep the accounts open. That information included bills, passports and social security cards.

Crooks obtain credit card information by stealing it right from the card or buying it on the massive online marketplace for stolen cards on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as well as the dark Web, a separate network that can’t be reached with normal browsers.

Ho would then transfer the money from the PayPal accounts into his personal bank accounts.

Ho then wired money to family and friends in Vietnam, and used the money for personal expenses, including the purchase of his home in Carmel.

“Recent figures suggest that over 80 percent of credit cards currently in people’s wallets have already been compromised,” said Markus Bergthaler, director of programs and marketing for the nonprofit Merchant Risk Council, which educates businesses on strategies to curtail fraud.

On Feb. 21, the FBI and Carmel police served a federal search warrant at his home near 116th and Towne Road.

“These charges are the result of a complex international investigation conducted jointly by FBI Indianapolis’ Cyber Intrusion Program and the Carmel Police Department working in partnership to put an end to Mr. Ho’s illegal activity that targeted hundreds of victims,” said Special Agent in Charge Grant Mendenhall, FBI Indianapolis.

Ho faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000.

UPDATED USA CREDIT CARD THEFT STATISTICS

• In 2018, $24.26 Billion was lost due to payment card fraud worldwide
• The United States leads as the most credit fraud prone country with 38.6% of reported card fraud losses in 2018
• Credit card fraud increased by 18.4 percent in 2018 and is still climbing
• Card not present fraud is now 81 percent more likely than point-of-sale fraud
• In 2018, Identity theft was the 3rd largest cause of fraud in the USA
• Identity theft makes up 14.8 percent of reported fraud
• Credit card fraud was ranked #1 type of Identity theft fraud
• Credit card fraud accounted for 35.4 percent of all identity theft fraud in 2018
• New account fraud percentage is up 24 percent from account fraud in 2017
• Take over of existing accounts is down 6 percent compared to 2017
• Yahoo’s breach in 2013 exposed 3 billion victims and is still the biggest single informational breach
• The Business Sector accounted for 46 percent of data breaches in 2018, including the Marriott International Breach
• 69 percent of fraud starts with a consumer being contacted by telephone or email, such as overdue loans or prize scams

Juravin Explains Identity Theft and Fraud Complaints

The Consumer Sentinel Network, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), tracks consumer fraud and identity theft complaints that have been filed with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private organizations. Of the 3 million identity theft and fraud reports received in 2018, 1.4 million were fraud-related, and 25 percent of those cases reported money was lost. In 2018, consumers reported losing about $1.48 billion related to fraud complaints, an increase of $406 million from 2017.

The median amount consumers paid was $375 in these cases. Within the fraud category, imposter scams were the most reported and ranked first among the top 10 fraud categories identified by the FTC. They accounted for $488 million in losses. In 2018, 15 percent of all complaints were related to identity theft. Identity theft complaints were the third most reported to the FTC. Identity theft claims fell from 2015 to 2018 by 9.3 percent, but began to increase again in 2018 and were up 19.8 percent from 2017 to 2018.

Sources: https://www.wthr.com/article/carmel-man-indicted-2-million-paypal-and-ebay-fraud, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-identity-theft-and-cybercrime, https://shiftprocessing.com/credit-card-fraud-statistics/, https://juravin.com, https://twitter.com/BellaCollina_FL, Twitter.com/DonJuravin