Blog
Longer pieces that do not fit the one-page-per-scheme format: what the numbers show, what enforcement can and cannot reach, and where the schemes are going next.
How a money mule account works, and how people end up as one
A mule account is where stolen money lands before it moves on. This post sets out how the FBI, the FDIC's inspector general, UK prosecutors, Cifas and Europol describe mules, how people are recruited, and why being deceived does not make you a victim of the fraud in the law's eyes.
2026-10-10How to check that an investment firm or lender is real, and what the check cannot tell you
Regulators in the US, UK, Australia and Canada publish free registers of licensed firms. They are the right first step, but scammers copy real firm names, registration numbers and even register entries, so a lookup is only as good as the contact details you use.
2026-10-10Card, bank transfer or app: how the way you paid decides whether you get money back
The same scam can end in a refund or a total loss depending on the payment method. This post sets out what US federal rules, UK reimbursement rules and Australian regulators actually say, and where the written protection stops.
2026-10-10What happens after you report a scam, and how money actually gets back to victims
Agencies in the US, UK, Canada and Australia describe reporting as intelligence, not a personal case file. Here is what the FTC, FBI, and national centres say they do with a report, how refunds and remission really reach victims, and why reporting still matters.
2026-10-10Why you cannot trust caller ID, even when it shows your bank's real number
Caller ID shows whatever number the call arrives with. The FCC's STIR/SHAKEN system makes faking harder but, by the FCC's own account, does not tell you who is calling. What that means for a call that appears to come from your bank.
2026-10-10Wire recall: what the first hours decide
A wire transfer has no chargeback. What exists is a recall request and, in the US, an FBI process that can ask the receiving bank to freeze the money. This is what the FBI, FinCEN and the federal rules say about it, and what to do in the first hour.
2026-09-29"Have you been scammed?" The recovery message, and what happens after you reply
A WhatsApp message offers to recover your lost money through a victims' fund. Regulators in the US, UK and Australia describe the same sequence behind it, and it does not end where the message says it will.
2026-09-22The number in the headline and the number that comes back: what five cases show about fraud loss and recovery
Prosecutors' loss figures, restitution orders and settlement recoveries are rarely the same number. Five cases already documented on this site show how wide that gap runs, and why it opens.
2026-09-22A conglomerate, a militia city, and 276 arrests: how the Cambodia-Myanmar scam compounds actually get reached
Four enforcement actions against Southeast Asian scam compounds each reached a different layer of the same industry, a chairman, a militia leader, and the managers underneath them. Read together, they show what it takes to touch this business, and how much still isn't touched.