Greater Fort Myers ACFE January 2023 Newsletter 
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Happy New Year!
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday and much needed respite.
As we embark on our fourth year as a newly established chapter, your new board of directors is committed to continuing to increase the value of your membership. To do this, we need to hear from you about your expectations of us.
Look for a survey in the coming weeks to give us your input into the various types of CPE and other activities we should have. We have a sense of what that is based upon the best practices for chapters that are far more mature than we are. However, this is your chapter, and we want it to align with your interests.
In addition to the survey that you will receive in the next few weeks, please feel free to contact me directly with any comments, questions, or ideas you may have to make our chapter better. Also, if you are interested in presenting, we would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Scott A. Stringer CPA, ABV, CFF, CGMA, CFE
President
President
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FRAUD NEWS
Friday, January 13, 2023
More victims surface in Collier County court appearance fraud scheme, bringing total to seven
More victims have come forward after Collier County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Crystal Kinzel's recent alert to Collier County residents that scammers are calling and falsely claiming that they failed to appear at a court hearing.
The scammers are also requesting that residents pay between $3,000 to $3,500 through Cash App to avoid executing an arrest warrant.
A new report from Kinzel's office said that seven complaints have been reported to either the Office of Inspector General or Collier County Sheriff’s Office Financial Crimes Bureau. All complainants indicated that they received suspicious phone calls from the same phone number (239-351-5418) from individuals identifying themselves as either “Sergeant Jefferson” or “Lieutenant Cooper.”
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Scam alert: MetaMask warns crypto users about address poisoning
The scammers will use wallet addresses generated from vanity address generators and match the first and last characters of their victim’s wallet address.
A new crypto wallet address scam that tries to take advantage of user carelessness has been on the rise, according to the MetaMask team.
In an announcement, digital wallet provider MetaMask warned users of an “address poisoning scam,” where attackers “poison” transaction histories by sending users tokens worth $0 to their wallets.
Thursday, January 19, 2023
New York Man Sentenced in Fraudulent Prize Notice Mail Fraud Scheme
A Queens man was sentenced for participating in a scheme to mail fraudulent prize notices that tricked consumers into paying fees for falsely promised cash prizes.
Scott Gammon, 48, of Broad Channel, New York, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, who also ordered Gammon to forfeit $139,611.97.
According to court documents, from August 2014 through August 2019, Gammon engaged in a direct-mail scheme that sent fraudulent prize notification mailings to thousands of consumers. The mailings induced consumers to pay a fee, purportedly in return for a large cash prize. None of the consumers who sent a fee ever received such a prize.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Construction Company Owner Sentenced for Fraud in Securing Millions of Dollars in Contracts Intended for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
Danske Bank A/S (Danske Bank), a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty today and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks.
According to court documents, Danske Bank defrauded U.S. banks regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and anti-money laundering controls to facilitate access to the U.S. financial system for Danske Bank Estonia’s high-risk customers, who resided outside of Estonia – including in Russia. The Justice Department will credit nearly $850 million in payments that Danske Bank makes to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Physician Convicted for Misappropriating Approximately $250,000 from COVID-19 Relief Programs
A Maryland man was sentenced today to three years in prison for not paying over employment taxes to the IRS on behalf of his company’s employees.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Jonas Purisch, of Baltimore, operated two employee staffing companies, Titan Staffing Network, Inc and Titan Services, LLC. Both companies provided workers for third-party manufacturing businesses in Maryland. As the owner and operator of the two companies, Purisch was responsible for withholding and paying over to the IRS employment taxes on behalf of their employees. Between March 2018 and March 2021, Purisch withheld but did not pay to the IRS more than $2 million in such taxes.
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