Tech

Scammers find a fertile market in India with the spread of the internet

Published

2 days ago

March 15, 2023

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BEED, India –

Ravindra Gaikwad did what would be expected of a cyber police chasing an online scam: he followed the money.

But what initially seemed like an ordinary case of fraud in his small town in western India ended up sending him on a 2,000-mile journey across three Indian states.

Only then did he begin to understand how developed such criminal enterprises are in his country.

“Scammers all over India are preying on gullible people in small towns and villages where the internet and smartphones have only recently become widespread,” he said.

India It has long been reputed to be home to online scammers It targets victims in wealthier countries like the United States. Last year, federal prosecutors in Georgia announced the indictment of several India-based call centers and their managers, accusing them of conspiring to forward tens of millions of fraudulent calls to American consumers.

“these Call centers located in India They allegedly intimidated their victims and stole their money, including some of the victims’ life savings,” then-US Atty. Curt Erskine of Northern Territory, Georgia, said at the time.

Now, with the rapid expansion of the Internet in developing nations, India is proving itself to be a fertile market for homegrown scammers.

About 47% of the population has access to the Internet, up from 15% eight years ago. Even small restaurants in villages and towns have moved towards contactless payment – a trend that was limited to major cities until a few years ago.

According to the Internet and Mobile Assn. In India, about half of India’s 692 million active internet users are involved in online transactions. The group’s 2022 report predicted that India will have 900 million active internet users by 2025, which means that the untapped market for scams is on the rise.

In contrast, cybercrimes such as phishing, password fraud, convincing victims to download screen monitoring apps, or setting up fake UPI links and QR codes, are also seeing an increase.

From March 2018 to December 2021, India reported more than 250,000 cases of wire fraud involving about $96 million, the finance ministry told lawmakers last year. Only $7.8 million of that amount has been recovered.

Tracks Devidas Tuljapurkar, Joint Secretary of All India Bank Employees Assn. , the rise of Digital India, a program launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

“Digital India should have gone hand in hand with digital literacy,” he said. But this did not happen and a large section of society still lacks experience in online financial transactions. This vulnerability is being exploited. Online scams have become an industry.”

Although cybercrime is still more common in the United States, which reported $3.3 billion in online fraud in 2020 alone, it is surprisingly high in a country where 90% of the population earns less than $300 a month.

Gaikwad, 49, was the head of the electronic cell investigation unit in Beed, Maharashtra state, last March when the principal of a local Urdu medium school reported that he had been duped.

Last December, Mohamed Abdel Rahim, 52, was randomly added to a WhatsApp group via an unknown phone number.

The name of the group made him curious: KBC. This is short for Kaun Banega Crorepati – the famous Hindi version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. Shortly after being added to the group, Rahim received a video message congratulating him on winning $30,000 and a car.

Rahim became convinced of the authenticity of the letter in part because it contained a meticulously designed game show poster. The message was followed by a phone call. The person on the other end said that if he wanted to go ahead with the offer, he would have to deposit money for taxes.

In the next two days, Rahim sent about $2,100 in three installments via Google Pay.

Over a period of three months, the fraudsters used an effective mix of threats and inducements to persuade Raheem to part with more than $35,000, completely draining his bank account.

When Rahim asked about the car and the money, he was told to keep quiet and not tell anyone about the lottery. If he did, he was told his file would be closed, meaning he would lose the amount he deposited and he would also lose the lottery.

“So I kept sending them money,” Rahim said. “I feel stupid and embarrassed.”

Gaikwad’s initial investigation of phone numbers and bank account details led him to five 21-year-old men from Bihar – 1,100 miles to the east.

“They used to handle many of these bank accounts,” said Gaikwad. Their job was to withdraw money from these accounts and channel it forward. The five were arrested and are now on bail as the case continues.

However, it is believed to be a small fish. Three of the five are working as laborers and two are still in school. Their role ended up collecting the money they received from young victims like Rahim. In return, they received a commission of approximately $70, which authorities charged.

Gaikwad then tracked down four men who were believed to have processed the collected money in Bihar. The men, aged between 22 and 28, were from West Champaran, another district in Bihar. One of them, who has a master’s degree in technology, authorities said, handled 150 bank accounts himself. These four were also arrested, charged and are in jail.

Gaikwad said most of the victims were from small towns and villages with modest incomes.

“Even a supposedly minor scam can destroy the stability of a family,” he said. We are trying to educate people about online scams. Until then, we are advising people not to transact online on weekends or after 5pm, when banks are closed. It slows down the investigation.”

The chances of a refund are higher if the victim arrives within the first hour, said Sheetalkumar Palal, the current chief police inspector in Beed’s electronic investigations unit.

“We call it the golden hour,” he said. Funds are often stuck in the payment gateway after they have been transferred. It’s easier to get a refund from there. Otherwise, we end up chasing people from different parts of the country.”

In October 2022, Gaikwad and his team arrest the four men from West Champaran, helping them trace the money trail.

From Bihar he passed through several different bank accounts, eventually stopping at a merchant in Surat – 1,300 miles west in Gujarat. The dealer had received $1.5 million from various accounts handled by the four men from West Champaran.

Gaikwad called the merchant for questioning. He had expected the investigation to be closed after he discovered what he believed to be the final piece of the puzzle. The web of bank accounts kept him from sleeping at night. But after nearly a year, he finally made it to the end.

Except that the merchant was ignorant of the fraud.

Gaikwad concluded that he was under the impression that the money was paid for the embroidered clothes he was exporting to Pakistan. “This is where the gang leader sits,” said Gaikwad.

A suspect has been identified in Pakistan. It is believed that he coordinated with the four men from West Champaran and ordered them to pay for the clothes which he would import from various merchants in Surat. These merchants have an agent who handles their accounts.

The agent would accept the money coming from the accounts handled by the West Champaran men and pass it on to the merchants according to their export orders.

“The merchants thought they were being paid for their exports,” said Gaikwad. But it was being paid through money cheated from different parts of India. A man in Pakistan will basically get his embroidered clothes for free.”

The police’s electronic intelligence unit does not have the authority to arrest a suspect in another country, so despite the progress made, Rahim has yet to get his money back, the equivalent of three years’ salary.

“I find it difficult to pay the monthly instalments,” said Rahim, who lives in Bid with his wife and two adult daughters. “The money I lost in the scam was my home loan. I feel like I let my family down.”

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This Hollywood influencer company helps internet stars

Published

26 mins ago

March 17, 2023

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More than 1,000 people came to see Brian Oades.

Lined up outside the headquarters of its parent company, the FaZe Clan, in Hollywood, a line wraps around the block: a group of excited teens, street-dressed high schoolers and parents slowly besieged on Melrose Boulevard.

Many have waited hours to catch up with the vlogger, who regularly entertains an audience equivalent to the population of Sri Lanka.

“I would literally like to meet every single person,” Al-Awadi said, standing on a platform inside a warehouse-like office, to the already-arriving crowd. My team told me it was impossible.

Those outside of Awadi’s orbit might be puzzled as to how he could attract such a large crowd. With a handful of IMDb credits — all to himself — he’s hardly your standard celebrity; After a brief stint in Los Angeles, the 26-year-old San Diegan moved back south to be closer to home.

However, on the internet, or at least in certain corners of it, he’s a pretty big deal. Twenty-two million people follow him on YouTube, his platform of choice, where he posts high-concept pranks and lavishly funded stunts. Still more kept up with his life on TikTok (9.6 million), Instagram (6.6 million), and Twitter (2.6 million). Under the handle of the FaZe Rug, he’s funneled all that online clout into a dedicated energy drink, a short-lived podcast, and most recently, a signature DoorDash sandwich called the “Rugfather.”

This was sandwich partnership Which made him and his legion of fans turn out in droves at Hollywood meet-and-greets.

“I love him,” said Ethan Comingore, 15, of San Bernardino. “I watch it day and night.”

There’s a lot of money in all of this — both from fans who dutifully wait for hours on the sidewalk hoping to bump their favorite YouTube star into a fist bump and brands that, as with DoorDash, want access to big soapboxes Awadis and other social media personalities with a The big names.

Enter FaZe Clan, the sprawling web content and lifestyle brand that staged the event this summer. It is among the many companies trying to capitalize on the massive demand. This summer, the company audience gone in a reverse $725 million merger – with mixed results.

That number is lower than a previous forecast of $1 billion, and the company’s share price has since fallen. After FaZe Clan for the first time At about $13 a share, but in the midst of a wider range The decline of the technology sectorthe price fell significantly to close at $2.44 on Friday.

Donald De Le Hay, aka FaZe Deestroying, Alex Prynkiewicz, aka FaZe Adapt, Kaysan Ghasseminejad, aka FaZe Kaysan, and Rani Netz, aka FaZe Ronaldo, at the FaZe Clan headquarters in Los Angeles.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

“Our going public gave us a budget that we didn’t have before… to really invest in the existing business [and] “We are building the future,” said CEO Lee Trinc.

Located somewhere at the intersection of management agency, record label, and artist group, FaZe is largely built around influencers, streamers, and web personalities with ties to the world of video games. The company also builds esports teams and makes money from sponsorship deals with brands.

FaZe regularly tours hip-hop, professional sports, and fitness, and has considered ventures into gambling and encryption. Although it’s still heavy on players, Lil Yachty added, LeBron James Jr. and Snoop Dogg as subsidiaries. wore the latter FaZe branded series during his Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year.

It’s all part of a company-wide pivot from gamer to youth culture — a broader, if less defined market — that’s been creeping in since FaZe’s early days.

FaZe started in 2010 when a group of teens began posting “Call of Duty” hoax footage to YouTube. It grew from there, making a name for itself among video game fans and branching out into esports teams, influential “content houses” and other ventures. Today, it has nearly 100 employees.

Awadis was recruited for his gaming skills but has expanded into lifestyle vlogs and other character-driven content, as have some of his colleagues.

The result was a company that defies categorization. in 2021 Investor offerFaZe suggested that it combined the generational appeal of MTV, Disney’s cross-platform reach, Roc Nation’s iconic personality and fan loyalty to the NBA.

The company reported $14 million in revenue he won In the third quarter, an increase of 12% over the same period last year (about half of brand deals). The company also reported a pre-tax loss of $12 million in the quarter, reflecting costs of hiring and going public. That same loss was $4.1 million in the prior quarter.

It’s not the only company trying to turn “likes” and shares into a sustainable business model. In fact, with so much money flowing around the creative economy, there are plenty of financial incentives to break down individual influencers into larger business ventures.

Some started on their own retail brands. Others moved tocontent homes“So that they can live and work together under a shared identity. Still more are connected to structured creative collaborations, such as”Saturday Night Live” – neat Tik Tok comedy. FaZe isn’t alone in trying to blend gamer culture with social impact: Los Angeles-based brand 100 Thieves has tried something similar.

It is an industry that relies heavily on the unique charm of certain web personalities. This can make it profitable but also very risky; If these characters drain, get scrapped, or slowly start to lose interest in the internet’s fickle, a lot of the value and reach they had to provide goes with them.

“[FaZe Clan] We have a group of influencers and creators, of course, but Twitch, YouTube and TikTok are much larger, and none of them have an answer on how to monetize and scale,” the portfolio covers gaming and digital entertainment.

Conflicts can arise with influencers as well. Influencer Alyssa Marie Violet Butler lawsuit FaZe Clan received last year shares of the company it said it was owed (the company dismissed her complaints). In the same year, FaZe Removal three members for allegedly promoting a cryptocurrency “pump and dump” scheme; A fourth was suspended but later invited. And in 2020, Turner Tenney’s character is streaming Settlement A contract dispute with the company after claiming to have exploited it.

In a presentation to investors in 2021, FaZe cited as a risk factor how “historically a limited number of esports professionals, influencers and content creators account for a significant portion of our revenue”.

A person wearing a dark hoodie lies on a red-covered sofa at FaZe Clan headquarters in Los Angeles.

A big part of FaZe’s offer of fresh talent is its logistical support. It offers affiliate creators assistance in disputes over sponsorship deals and access to internal management teams, publicity, legal, marketing, and sales, and thinks of itself as an incubator for budding creators.

“Any business like that, if you’re going to be at the forefront of youth culture, you better have the people who are closest to the ground,” Trink said.

Among those new voices is Gabriel Gelinas, a Canadian streamer from Quebec who was accepted into the list earlier this year under the name FaZe Proze after winning a recruiting contest.

“FaZe has been doing a great job of trying to evolve and innovate,” said Gelinas, 24. “That’s why I feel like they’re always looking for new people.”

Another recent addition to the list — Donald De La Haye, or FaZe Deestroying — said the company had everything one could ask for in a partnership: “infrastructure, business brain, capital, and know-how.”

De La Haye was a former college football player deemed ineligible in favor of the NCAA in 2017 after he refused to stop earning ad revenue from his YouTube channel. These days, he makes videos about football and the culture of the sport with the logistical support of FaZe.

“They definitely helped me get things off my plate,” said De La Haye, 25.

It’s not always clear how much of FaZe’s popularity comes from the overall brand versus the star power of individual members.

“I don’t really watch FaZe — I just watch FaZe Rug videos,” Kevin Isis, 13, said while standing in line to meet DoorDash.

In fact, FaZe Clan’s YouTube channel has less than 40% more followers than Awadis’ personal channel.

Awadis is one of the most followed creators on the company’s roster, so he’s not necessarily an actor — and FaZe still has more fans than him on Instagram and Twitter. However, it raises the question: who needs whom more?

“I’m like the CEO of my own company, but then I also became part of FaZe,” Awadis said. “So my stuff helps FaZe and vice versa.”

But maintaining the stability of the larger organization can sometimes mean shifting around its component parts.

Youssef Abdel-Fattah, better known online as FaZe Apex, was a member of the brand when a few teens were posting “Call of Duty” shenanigans online. But as FaZe grew, Abdelfattah began to handle some of the day-to-day administrative work.

“I always did — I don’t want to say unpleasant work, but less exciting things,” he said. “In 2016-2017, when the business was more mature and when we had an office, we had employees, I started balancing content creation with…decision making.”

These days, Abdel-Fattah spends much of his time mediating between company management and talent — the resident player whispering, as it were.

He said, “The content industry is very demanding, and that spark, I think, has kind of fizzled out. … I got very lucky that when I hit that wall, I was able to continue to be very involved in the company that I love.”

The 26-year-old has adopted a mentoring role among the recruits. One of the new teenage members calls him “Boomer”.

Internet culture is changing rapidly, and 12-year-old FaZe is considered an old brand at this point. However, change continues—even if it means evolving beyond the people and ideas you started with.

“It’s a team effort now,” Abdel-Fattah said. “all of us [early members] It brought in people who we know understand the internet, who understand this world, and who can help us stay on the right track. … We’re constantly trying to put together a monster team of internet geniuses.”

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Tech

Elon Musk has officially lost more private money than anyone else in history

Published

1 hour ago

March 17, 2023

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Bill Buckner. Justin Guarini. Everyone who “ran” against Vladimir Putin. Now Elon Musk has joined the ranks of the biggest losers in history. the Awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, a record-breaking loss of personal wealth. Forbes has estimated that in the past year or so, Musk’s wealth has declined by $182 billion.

In November 2021, Musk’s wealth peaked at nearly $320 billion, making him the richest man in the world. Most of that, however, was Tesla stock, which dropped in value precipitously through 2022. His purchase of Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion — which he financed with some of his Tesla stock — also caused a huge buzz in his bottom line.

In December, Musk’s losses stripped off His top of Forbes existingAnd the title of the richest person in the world went to Bernard Arnault of the LVMH group, which owns luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Sephora. Forbes noted That many other billionaires will take big losses in 2022, when technology stocks will be hit hard. Jeff Bezos lost $85 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg saw $77 billion of his wealth disappear.

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son previously held the world record for the largest personal wealth loss, losing more than $59 billion during the 2000 internet crash. Today, Son is ranked 67th on Forbes’ list of billionaires.

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US officials said Apple’s anti-union tactics in Atlanta were illegal

Published

2 hours ago

March 17, 2023

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Prosecutors at the U.S. Labor Council determined that Apple violated federal law by questioning and coercing employees in Atlanta, the latest legal response about the company’s response to the regulation effort.

The regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Atlanta also concluded that Apple held mandatory anti-union meetings during which management made coercive statements and would issue a complaint if the company did not settle, the agency’s press secretary, Kayla Bladeau, said Monday.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Communications Workers of America petitioned to unionize an election for its Atlanta store this year, but in May withdrew its petition the week before the planned vote, citing alleged misconduct by the company.

“Apple executives believe the rules do not apply to them,” the group said in a statement on Monday. “Holding an illegal forced captive audience meeting is not only union busting, but an example of psychological warfare. We commend the NLRB for recognizing captive audience meetings for exactly what they are: a direct violation of workers’ rights.”

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, faced an unprecedented wave of regulation at its retail stores this year. The staff at a Maryland location voted in June to join the AFL International. Many of the Machinists and their Oklahoma City counterparts opted in October to join the CWA.

Regulators suffered a setback last month in St. Louis, where IAM withdrew a union petition a week after it was submitted, blaming the company’s conduct. Some employees on site later complained about this process, They say they felt The electoral effort has been accelerated. But workers at dozens of the 270 US Apple Stores have been debating the issue of unionizing, according to employees.

A regional director at the NLRB in New York issued a complaint against Apple in September, accusing the company of questioning employees at a World Trade Center store and discriminating against union supporters in enforcing its no-solicitation policy. Apple said it did not agree with the allegations.

Whereas the NLRB had previously considered that companies could require employees to attend anti-union meetings, the agency’s current general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, considers “captive public” gatherings coercive and illegal in nature. Her office is pursuing cases that could set precedent, including at Amazon.com and Starbucks, both of which deny wrongdoing.

Complaints by the NLRB’s regional directors are heard by the agency’s judges, and their rulings can be appealed to board members in Washington, and from there they can go to federal court. The agency can seek damages, such as posting notices and rescinding policies or penalties, but it does not have the authority to impose punitive damages on companies.

Bloomberg staff writer Mark Gorman contributed to this report.

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