Free Republic

China has executed four leading members of Myanmar-based scam syndicates, a Chinese court said on Monday (Feb 2), the second such announcement in less than a week as Beijing ramps up a crackdown on cross-border telecom fraud. Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia and the lawless borderlands of Myanmar. Initially, largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal billions of dollars from victims around the world.

Gold and silver prices plunged Friday, as President Donald Trump’s nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, appeared to relieve concerns about the central bank’s independence and sent the dollar soaring. Spot silver was down 28% at $83.45 an ounce, trading near its lows of the day. Silver futures plummeted 31.4% to settle at $78.53, marking its worst day since March 1980. Meanwhile, spot gold shed around 9% to trade at $4,895.22 an ounce. Gold futures dropped 11.4% to settle at $4,745.10. The sharp moves down were initially triggered by reports of Warsh’s nomination. However, they...

Trump's pick for the top spot in the new office is expected to uncover more fraud as more investigations continue. With more and more fraud being investigated and exposed across the country, the Trump administration has created a new office specially dedicated to prosecuting these types of crimes. On Wednesday night, President Trump announced the creation of the office and his nominee to run it. "I am pleased to nominate Colin McDonald to serve as the first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop...

Maine’s Democrat governor, Janet Mills, is demanding a meeting with President Trump by using the shooting by immigration agents in Minnesota to highlight her anti-ICE stance. Mills posted her “letter” to President Trump on her social media, in which she demanded the federal government stop enforcing federal immigration laws in her state. “In response to Federal agents killing another person in Minnesota, I have requested a meeting with the President of the United States and demanded that his Administration immediately withdraw ICE agents from Maine,” she wrote. She attached her letter to the president, in which decries the “weaponization of...

n 2025, my wife and I received 478 direct mail appeals from charitable organizations and other non-profits. That’s right — 478. That is an average of slightly over nine a week. How do I know the exact number? In 2024, I noticed that the number of letters from charities was increasing. There was always one or two in the mail, sometimes more. The only way to see what was really happening was to collect these mailings for a year and count them. So, after Christmas in 2024, I found an empty box I thought might hold a few hundred letters,...

Cancer doctors have grown accustomed to good news. Over the past three decades, lung cancer deaths have plummeted by 40%. Breast cancer mortality has dropped 44%. Prostate cancer deaths have fallen by half. Colon cancer, once a leading killer, now claims 50% fewer lives than in 1990. These victories represent billions in research funding, surgical innovations, targeted therapies, and nationwide screening campaigns—the sum total of modern medicine’s war on cancer. Yet one malignancy refuses to follow the script. Pancreatic cancer—the silent executioner lurking behind the stomach, wrapped around vital blood vessels, often symptomless until the final act—is not only resisting...

(The Center Square) – Daycare centers that receive hundreds of thousands in taxpayer subsides did not appear to have any children when The Center Square visited the facilities this week and were either openly hostile or told journalists that they were hoping to have children in their care, but did not have an application available or anyone to talk with about enrolling a child. The focus on Washington's taxpayer subsidized daycares comes at the time federal authorities are conducting what they call a "massive" investigation into fraud in Somali-run facilities in Minnesota. According to fiscal.wa.gov, a home-based daycare on 6th...

United States District Judge Nancy E. Brasel sentenced Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, age 36, to 28 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a $300 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally program to feed hungry kids during the COVID-19 pandemic. Farah helped orchestrate the largest known COVID-19 fraud scheme called Feeding Our Future in Minnesota. Farah and his co-defendants stole more than $47 million by claiming to serve 18 million meals to kids at more than 30 food distribution sites. Farah was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $47,920,514. He's...

The sprawling fraud scandal tied to taxpayer-funded childcare and welfare programs is no longer confined to Minnesota. New evidence suggests the same red flags are now flashing in Washington State, where hundreds of Somali-run childcare centers allegedly operate without even listing a physical address. The Gateway Pundit previously reported on independent journalist Nick Shirley and his explosive investigation into alleged large-scale fraud involving Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota. Shirley shared clips from his reporting on X, including footage of a childcare facility that claimed to serve 102 children—yet appeared completely empty—before staff abruptly slammed the door in his face. Shirley...

The looting spree by grifters imported from Somalia to transmogrify the demographics of Minnesota has reportedly reached $9 billion. A typical example of Somali fraud is child-free childcare centers. Despite often having heads shaped like light bulbs, Somalis are not known to be bright. How did they come up with such a lucrative scam? Maybe their enabler Tim Walz gave them the idea during the 2024 vice presidential debate. Watch him brag about making it easier to set up these operations and then get them financed on a coercive basis by taxpayers: video on link

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security are on the ground going door-to-door at suspected Somali fraud sites in Minneapolis following journalist Nick Shirley’s viral video revealing rampant fraud in the Somali community. As previously reported, an angry Somali woman ‘working’ at a daycare – with no children inside – slammed the door as journalist Nick Shirley asked some simple questions about the so-called children’s center. Minnesota Childcare Center claims it takes care of 102 children, however, the facility is empty. “We’re just wondering where the children are,” David, a man who has been investigating the Somali fraud for years,...

There’s no escaping the annual Black Friday sales, which seem to last longer every year. Equally, there’s no escaping that Amazon is the top dog in both the event itself and as a target for cybercriminals. With an estimated 310 million active users in 2025, Amazon has always been a prime quarry for scammers, hackers and other highly-targeted cybercrime activity. Now the online retail giant has issued a stark warning that every customer must take seriously as attackers strike. Here’s what you need to know and do. Amazon Sends Users Attack Warning – What You Need To Know Hot on...

On the surface, the town of Jamtara appeared no different from neighbouring districts. But, if you knew where to look, there were startling differences. In the middle of spartan villages were houses of imposing size and unusual opulence. Millions of Indians knew why this was. They knew, to their cost, where Jamtara was. To them, it was no longer a place; it was a verb. You lived in fear of being “Jamtara-ed”. Over the past 15 years, parts of this sleepy district in the eastern state of Jharkhand had grown fabulously wealthy. This extraordinary feat of rural development was powered...

When pastor and author TD Jakes fell under suspicion of attending sex parties hosted by hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jakes blamed the rumors on an army of “44,000 bots that were released on me.” According to Jakes, an investigation found that 98% of social media posts connecting him with the sex parties were artificial intelligence-generated. As churches grapple with how to ethically integrate AI into their ministries, unscrupulous scammers are taking advantage of new technologies for their own purposes. The FBI’s Internet Crime Report shows cyber crimes steadily rising over the last five years, and one cybersecurity analyst warned...

It starts off looking harmless. You’ve pulled into a petrol station, you’re in a rush, maybe even heading off on holiday, and a stranger at the next pump leans over with a polite smile. ‘Could you put five euros on your card for me? I’ll give you the cash now.’ It sounds like nothing – a neighbourly gesture, a quick favour. But what many drivers in Spain don’t realise is that this “harmless” exchange is the basis of a clever new scam sweeping petrol stations across the country. And those five euros? They could end up draining your bank account...

Experts have warned hackers recently used a generative AI tool to replicate several web pages belonging to the Brazilian government in an effort to steal sensitive personal information and money. The fake websites were examined by Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers, who discovered multiple indicators of the use of AI to generate code. The websites look almost identical to the official sites, with the hackers using SEO poisoning to make the websites appear higher in search results, and therefore seem more legitimate. AI generated government websites In the campaign examined by ThreatLabz, two websites were spotted mimicking important government portals. The first...

Drag racing is a sport built on connection. From pit area handshakes to social media shoutouts, NHRA drivers have long embraced fan engagement as part of their identity. But in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, that connection has turned dangerous. Top drivers in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series say they are increasingly being impersonated online, targeted by spammers, stalkers, and con artists who deceive fans into fake relationships, VIP club memberships, and worse. The problem, they say, is out of control—and in some cases, even life-threatening. Brittany Force. Erica Enders. Alexis DeJoria. Ida Zetterström. Jeg Coughlin Jr. Larry...

At the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, the exhibits chart how technology got to where it is today. And there could be no better guide to this history than Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. In 1976, Wozniak built the Apple 1, and from that he and Steve Jobs built a company. "Incredible times," said Wozniak. "Just came on down wanting to build a neat product." Wozniak was the inventor, Jobs was the master salesman; and when Wozniak created the Apple II, Jobs had something new to sell: the first personal computer to display color. "That was the machine that...

WILLIAMSPORT - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that eight Chinese nationals who obtained student visas to attend college in the United States were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Those indicated include: Yankun Jiang, 24, of State College, PA, Hanlin Yang, 24, of State College; Chenhao Chen, 25, of California; Xiaoqing Tu, 24, of California; Dongjie Lu, 35, of California; Lei Bao, 22, of New York; Kuo Zhang, 31, of New Jersey; and Jiacheng Zhang, 25, of Florida.According to Acting United States Attorney John Gurganus, the indictment...

Victims think they’re talking to Keanu Reeves. Or Kevin Costner. Then come the pleas for cash. The brazen AI-fueled con that fleeces lovestruck fans and has Hollywood finally fighting back. In November, Margaret climbed into her Toyota Camry, left her husband of 10 years at their comfortable brick home in the rural South and drove an hour to a hotel where — she was sure — Kevin Costner was coming to meet her. By this point, Margaret, 73, had spent months making weekly bitcoin deposits for Costner totaling about $100,000. He had messaged her that he was using the money...