Cybercrime in Alaska shoots through the roof
A mysterious white-collar criminal hacking group is at work in affiliation with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and with significant law enforcement involvement on the wrong side of the law in organized white-collar crime.
There's a “hacker” group with which I am not affiliated whatsoever, although I am a user of Linux, which is a popular computer operating system developed with the backing of several large companies including IBM, Oracle, Cisco and even Microsoft.
I am not opposed to small and medium businesses as many labor unions are, but there are workers demanding wages plus healthcare and retirement, benefits which are not easy for small and medium businesses to provide. We need the competition to stay lean and mean and keep people honest.
Small to medium businessmen tend to associate Linux with low-class “hacking” activity but there is no hesitation on the part of large businesses and corporations in the industry to use Linux in data centers for web and email servers, mission critical infrastructure, industrial controls, automation, etc.
Lars Hanson
The costliest scams in the state were investment fraud, which accounted for $13.2 million in losses, followed by confidence or romance scams at $7.1 million, and business email compromise at $7 million, according to the report. ¶Older Alaskans bore the heaviest financial burden. Residents 60 and older reported $16.2 million in losses, the highest of any age group in the state. ¶In the release, FBI Anchorage Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel said the figures reflect more than statistics, pointing to families who have lost savings, retirement money and financial stability.
Investment Fraud
The Alaska Permanent Fund itself is by far the worst investment fraud in the state, especially for eligible law-abiding residents of Alaska who “just don't get it” for any of a number of administrative excuses to deny paying, while crooks and thieves are allowed run off with the money which was illegally withheld from its rightful recipients.
Confidence or Romance Scams
Confidence and romance scams include prostitution and unwarranted police pick-ups and vehicle seizures at gas stations, large-scale distribution of pornography, and other city and public lands parking scams.
Extortioners, thieves and robbers, acting partly under color of law, and partly out of naked hostility and greed, have been wrongfully appropriating and illegally converting titles to motor vehicles claimed or suggested to be improperly parked throughout the State and District of Alaska.
Business email compromise
Hackers from UAF in collaboration with certain local small and medium businesses have been sending Unsolicited Bulk Email by illicit means to commit construction-contracting and home improvement related scams and also to peddle various adult sexual health remedies for males and females, on the assumption that most of their victims will be too embarrassed to report the scams. A quick scan of subject lines from any unfiltered email inbox reveals this typical criminal behavior. The falsification and hacking of police reports and court records is a growing area of crime now that many courts desire to omit due process and leave out the writ of habeas corpus to “do business” by telephonic hearings and video arraignments without the physical presence of the parties or any authentication of so-called “charging documents” or supporting evidence. Furthermore, persons appearing or purporting to appear as attorneys or even judges are not being identified properly or held accountable to bar licensing standards in Alaska’s cyber-crime-friendly court system.