Articles Posted in Cyber Crime

On June 30, 2025, the Department of Justice announced its largest-ever National Health Care Fraud Takedown, unveiling criminal charges against 324 individuals, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals across 50 federal districts and 12 state attorney general offices. The alleged schemes involved over $14.6 billion in intended losses—a record more than double the…

Cryptocurrency fraud has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. The lack of a centralized authority governing crypto along with the relative anonymity of transactions has contributed to this rise in digital financial crime. Specifically, cryptocurrency money laundering has grown significantly in recent years with billions of dollars stolen through hacks, Ponzi schemes, mixers. A recent…

Recently, Robert Purbeck of Idaho, also known as “Lifelock,” and “Studmaster,”  was sentenced to ten years after pleading guilty to federal charges of computer fraud and abuse.  He hacked into the computer servers of the City of Newnan, Georgia  and a Griffin, Georgia medical clinic, and then targeted at least 17 other victims across the…

A new type of fraudulent online investment scheme has led to thousands of victims worldwide and significant financial losses. In a pig butchering scam, victims are gradually lured into making financial contributions to a seemingly sound investment only to have the person they are dealing with subsequently disappear with the funds. These types of schemes…

An NFT, or Non-Fungible Token, is a digital asset representing ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content using blockchain technology. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs are non-interchangeable and one-of-a-kind. As long as you’re following copyright…

What is Bitcoin money laundering? Bitcoin money laundering is the process of using Bitcoin to conceal the origins of illegally obtained money. This can be done by transferring the Bitcoin to multiple accounts, mixing it with other Bitcoin, or using it to purchase goods or services. Some believe that Bitcoin transactions are anonymous. There are,…

We posed some questions about cryptocurrency using Bard (Google’s version of Chat GPT), First we asked, WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY? Its response: Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency, and arguably its most endearing…

On May 17, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the establishment of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. On March 10, 2022, Garland announced Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers as the Director For Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement. In August, 2022, President Biden signed laws that give the Department of Justice and other federal agencies…

The International Bar Association created a “President’s Task force on Cybersecurity”. Meg Strickler was appointed to serve on this prestigious task force and helped draft Cybersecurity Guidelines. Today, it is all the more important to be weary of a data breach if you own and operate a small business. Data breaches can interrupt operations, cause…

Here is the definition from the statute, cut directly from the 11th circuit’s jury instructions: It’s a Federal crime to commit aggravated identity theft. The Defendant can be found guilty of aggravated identity theft only if all the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the Defendant knowingly transferred, possessed, or used another…