The men are charged with fraudulently applying for more than $500,000 in assistance from the new CARES Act Payroll Protection Program, which is designed to help businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

With so much money being issued so quickly, the potential for scams and misuse runs rampant.

Accounting woes at Luckin Coffee led to a 75% decline in the Chinese company's stock on Thursday.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

Two issues involving Audible's ACX have come across my desk recently.

Rights Fraud

I've heard from several self- and small press-pubbed authors who report that they've found their books listed on ACX as open to narrator auditions...except that they, or their publishers, didn't put them there. This appears to be an attempt to steal authors' audio rights.

Below is one listing. Here's another and another and another. (All of these listings have been invalidated by ACX.)


See "Comments from the Rights Holder" at the bottom. The purported company, Publishing D LLC, does not show up on any searches.

The fraud seems pretty elaborate. Here's what one of the authors who contacted me told me:


These comments from a freelance audiobook narrator illustrate that "Publishing D" is not an isolated incidence.

Promotional Code Shenanigans

Multiple authors have contacted me to report that they've received an email from ACX withdrawing their promotional codes. The cited reason: "unusual activity," with no explanation of what that means.

The authors say that they have not used the codes improperly or violated ACX guidelines; in some cases, they've used the codes only a handful of times or not at all. See, for instance, blog posts by authors G. Michael Vasey and Adam Piggott. Per discussions on the KBoards and Reddit, a lot of authors seem to be affected.

Is this one of Amazon's (Audible's parent company) periodic crackdowns on misuse or fraud that has inadvertently ensnared innocent authors? According to author and self-publishing expert David Gaughran, ACX promo code scamming is a major problem, and Amazon's anti-abuse sweeps often involve a lot of collateral damage. Or could it be an error--a glitch or rogue algorithm?

So far, authors' efforts to get a fuller explanation have run up against the black box that is Amazon:


If I hear anything further, I'll update this post.

UPDATE 11/27/19: One of the authors who alerted me to the promo code withdrawal has received a notice saying that their codes are reinstated--however, they say that the promo code tab has yet to appear in their dashboard.


UPDATE 2/25/29: More about ACX scams, from a comment left by a narrator:

About the ACX thing...I was contacted by ACX to narrate three books, however, the person who offered the contracts kept emailing and frantically telling me to send them my book codes. I got leary and called ACX. They said unfortunately there are many scams taking place where if a book is "unclaimed" in their system, someone may grab it and offer it as an audiobook contract. Then they keep the codes and blackmarket sell them. They do not pay the narrators. Many other authors are experiencing it, they said, but they have no way to regulate it.

I declined the offers and got a nasty note from the contract holder. I was also told that since I corresponded with them, they had my email that is associated with Amazon..the same one. So, ACX said I had to go change my email on Amazon or they would have access there too. Geez.

A BBC investigation has found online scams selling fake protective equipment and coronavirus tests.

A 32-year-old woman clerk of a school in Thane district of Maharashtra has been booked for allegedly misappropriating students' fee to the tune of nearly Rs 6 lakh, police said on Tuesday. According to a complaint filed by the private school's management, the accused, a resident of Dombivli town, allegedly deleted receipts from the institution's accounting software of fees collected by her from 61 students between January and December 2018, a police spokesperson said.

Based on the complaint, the police on Monday booked the accused under IPC Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust), 420, (cheating) and 468 (forgery), the official said. No arrest was made so far, the police said, adding that a probe was underway in the case.

In another incident, a 22-year-old man was arrested from Jharkhand for allegedly cheating an 'Indian Idol' participant of Rs 1.7 lakh on the pretext of debit card verification by posing as a bank executive, police said.

The accused, Rajkumar Jaynarayan Mandal, was arrested by the Sion police with the help of Cyber Cell of the Mumbai police, an official said. Mandal had phoned Avanti Patel (23), who participated in the singing reality show 'Indian Idol' last year, and her sister posing as an executive of a public sector bank, he said.

While talking to them, the accused obtained their bank details and debit card passwords. He then fraudulently withdrew Rs 1.7 lakh from Patel's and her sister's accounts and transferred the money to other bank accounts and Paytm, a digital wallet, he said.

The incident came to light when the singer realised that she has been cheated and lodged a complaint with the Sion police, the official said. During the investigation, the police traced the phone call to Jharkhand and also got details of the accounts in which the siphoned off money was deposited, he said. A police team went to Jharkhand and apprehended the accused from there, he said.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

On Monday evening, the hashtag #FraudArhaanKhan started trending on Twitter following claims by netizens that actor and "Bigg Boss 13" contestant Arhaan Khan has taken Rs 15 lakh from his former girlfriend Rashami Desai's account, and is allegedly threatening her. Arhaan withdrew the money when Rashami was still inside the "Bigg Boss" house, it has been claimed.

The accusations have mostly been levelled on Twitter by netizens who claim to Rashami's fans. They also shared screenshots of bank statements of monetary transactions from an account with the name Shivani Ajay Kumar Desai.

A user tweeted in Hindi claiming Arhaan Khan has taken Rs 15 Lakh from the actress' account in 15 days.

Another user alleged that Arhaan has even taken money for subscribing to a popular OTT platform.

A Fanclub of Rashami Desai tweeted: "We need justice for @TheRashamiDesai. She has earned money with lot of her hardwork and #FraudArhaanKhan misused her money. What a shame to society."

Calling Arhaan a "gold digger," Rashamians, as Rashami's fans like to call themselves claimed in a tweet: "This is a call to all fandoms - any and everyone who is sane enough to see the wrong in this situation- keep aside your Bigg boss grudges for once and please help us expose and shame a gold digger. #FraudArhaanKhan."

However, there has been no substantial basis to any such claim on the part of fans.

During her stay in the "Bigg Boss" house in the latest season, Rashami Desai was heartbroken after learning about Arhaan Khan's child and former wife. The two eventually parted ways. It seems a bigger shock is waiting for the "Naagin 4" actress if allegations made by her fans come true!

While this season of the reality show is already over long back, Rashami Desai continues to remain a favourite with her fans.

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

Former Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho pleaded his innocence while speaking for the first time after spending 32 days in a Paraguayan prison. The former Barcelona forward is currently under house arrest in a hotel in Asuncion after he was arrested along with his cavalry for entering the country with forged documents.

Ronaldinho has insisted he didn't know his documents were illegal and also stated he showed full cooperation with the authorities in the aftermath of the airport fiasco.

"We were totally surprised to learn that the documents were not legal," Ronaldinho told ABC Color. "Since then our intention has been to collaborate with the justice system to clarify the facts.

"From that moment until today, we have explained everything and facilitated everything that has been requested of us.

"It was a tough blow, I never imagined that I would go through such a situation. All my life I have sought to reach the highest professional level and bring joy to people with my football," he added.

Ronaldinho also revealed what his plans are after he is allowed to go back to his home nation once investigation ends.

"The first thing will be to give a big kiss to my mother, who has lived through this difficult phase since the start of COVID-19 pandemic, at her home."

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

BDO, the accountancy and business advisory firm, has released a report into the rapidly growing issue businesses and governments face with fraud, including tax fraud.

Local authorities in India have been instructed to draw up lists of taxpayers that have filed fraudulent or potentially fraudulent requests for input tax credits and where appropriate share this information with other state authorities.

On November 18, 2019, the German Ministry of Finance published a question and answer section on its website to clarify the role of a new special unit within the tax authority designed to detect cases of tax fraud more quickly.

New chemical markers intended to be used in gas oil (diesel) and kerosene in the EU are more resilient to fraud than the one currently applied, and introducing a new marker might cost less than member states currently lose in tax revenues, a new EU report says.

Three-quarters of Europeans want the European Union to do more to tackle tax evasion, according to a new survey by Eurobarometer.

On October 12, the Italian financial police said it had broke up a value-added tax fraud ring allegedly involved in transactions totaling EUR930m, through 180 companies in 15 European Union (EU) countries.

Twenty EU member states have reached a deal on the establishment of a new European Public Prosecutor's Office that will have the power to investigate and prosecute criminal cases affecting the EU budget.

BDO, the accountancy and business advisory firm, has released a report into the rapidly growing issue businesses and governments face with fraud, including tax fraud.

The European Union value-added tax gap – the overall difference between expected VAT revenue and actual EU member state collections – was EUR152bn in 2015, says the European Commission, highlighting the need for further reforms to tackle avoidance, error, and evasion.

The Isle of Man Treasury has announced that a new 30 percent penalty for participation in VAT fraud will be introduced from March 1, 2018.

The company had three rice milling plants, besides eight sorting and grading units in Karnal district with offices in Saudi Arabia and Dubai for trading purposes, the SBI complaint said.

The Forum on Tax Administration - Tax Commissioners from 45 countries - has been meeting in Moscow for the past two days. And released this comuniqué.

Vast amounts of money are kept off-shore and go untaxed. The more we do to combat tax fraud and evasion, the more resources we will have to finance growth-enhancing public investment, restore the health of public finances, and put the euro area economy back on a sustained and long-term recovery, said OECD Secretary-General.

Technology Tools to Tackle Tax Evasion and Tax Fraud demonstrates how technology is currently being used by tax administrations in countries worldwide to prevent, identify and tackle tax evasion and tax fraud. These solutions can offer a win-win: better detection of crime, higher revenue recovery, and synergies that can make tax compliance easier for business and tax administrations.

Foreign bribery enforcement in the UK has increased significantly since 2012 notably thanks to the pragmatic and effective approach taken by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate and resolve foreign bribery cases.

Fraud and corruption are undermining the impact of the European Structural and Investment Funds, with recent high-profile cases resulting in mass protests and political upheaval. So what can EU governments do to tackle the problem?

Middle East-focused group’s discovery follows revelations over undisclosed debt

Berlin’s property boom is the setting for Cüneyt Kaya’s film

Indian entrepreneur claims a small group of executives were involved at the hospital group

Patrick Jenkins and guests discuss push-payment fraud in the UK and who should compensate the victims, why Deutsche Bank is coming under pressure from investors to appoint a new investment banking chief, and why JPMorgan Chase in the US has been selling off loans from its balance sheet. With special guests: Stephen Jones, chief executive of the banking association UK Finance and Rushanara Ali, Labour MP and member of the UK Treasury Select Committee.

Contributors: Patrick Jenkins, financial editor, Caroline Binham, financial regulation correspondent, Stephen Morris, European banking correspondent, and Robert Armstrong, US financial editor. Producer: Fiona Symon

 

---

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you fall for a scam, who is to blame — you or your bank?

PwC has joined forces with leading not-for-profit food safety agency SSAFE to develop a new industry tool to help fight food fraud and protect consumers.

Prague based Resistant AI has nabbed a $2.75M seed round. The security startup’s machine learning technology is designed to be deployed on top of AI systems used for financial decision making to protect customers in markets such as financial services and ecommerce from attacks such as targeted manipulation, adversarial machine learning and advanced fraud. The […]

Zahid Khan was jailed for 10 years for a £500,000 car registration plate scam. But the 31-year-old fled the UK before being jailed in his absence for ten years and is now boasting of life on the run

Laura Garza, a Mexican national living in Texas, has been indicted by a grand jury on two counts of voter impersonation and ineligible voting, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Crystal Mason, a 43-year-old tax fraud convict and mother-of-two, voted in the 2016 election while on supervised release - unaware that she was ineligible under a Texas law.

Belfort filed his suit against Red Granite Pictures in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that the movie was financed by money pilfered from the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund (1MDB).

Scientists have claimed pathologist Bennett Omalu exaggerated the link between CTE and contact sports in a 2005 study showing NFL legend Mike Webster only had a small amount of tangled tau.

William Gething-Lewis of Pembrokeshire, was due to appear in court accused of fiddling £54,000 benefits by hiding a fortune in shares. He failed to attend and sent an email from Greece.

He has a reputation for his razor sharp wit, cutting remarks and for 'hijacking' the Logies with tongue-in-cheek Gold Logie nomination campaigns.

Giles Knibbs (pictured) who worked at Camelot in Watford, told his ex-partner John Coleyshaw that Edward Putman had not paid him his agreed share of the fraudulent winnings.

Anwar Batson has been jailed for nine months after pleading guilty to four offences under the Computer Misuse Act, at Southwark Crown Court today. He used 'Sentry MBA' programme.

Father-of-two Mark Goodram, 36, from Bolton, claims to have bought the winning scratchcard from a Waitrose supermarket in Clapham, south London, in April last year.

Jnaid Salama, 30, also John D. Calvin, was arrested after his check for $10,995 surgery to change the shape and size of his nose was rejected. He gave it to a clinic in Seattle, Washington.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Scott Morrison was wrong to speak to NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller about the investigation into Angus Taylor's office.

James Ibori (pictured), who previously lived in Middlesex, was jailed for 13 years for fraud and money laundering back in 2012 and is yet to pay any of the money back.

Mohammed Asif helped 11 people get UK passports, claiming they were children of two deceased Britons of Pakistani heritage as part of a scam that charged customers up to £10,000.

The Prague-West county court on Tuesday turned two previous suspended sentences for drunk driving into jail terms because of his convictions for other crimes since receiving the initial terms.

SPECIAL REPORT - JAMES SHARPE: Ronaldinho's trademark grin had vanished. His long, curly hair tucked up under a black hat as police ed him through the mass of flashing bulbs.

Footage shows a British caller chatting with one of the scammers - based in Gurugram, near Delhi. Scammers were filmed laughing as they told the victim to hand over £1,295.

Corporal Audrey Urbina, pictured, was today dismissed from the British Army and ordered to serve nine months detention after she was found guilty of fraud at a military tribunal in Wiltshire.

Reputable firms don't encourage savers to take money out of pensions before they are 55, in the form of a loan or any other kind of cash payout, due to the stiff tax penalty.