Interpol says 260 suspects in online romance scams have been arrested in Africa

DAKAR, Senegal: A crackdown on cybercrime coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrests across 14 African countries of 260 people suspected in online romance and extortion scams, the organisation announced on Sept 26. The operation took place in July and August and focused on scams in which perpetrators build online romantic relationships to extract money from...

What if Google just broke itself up? A tech insider makes the case.

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has lost two important antitrust cases in the past year. Its search business is threatened and its stock is stalled. Federal prosecutors are pushing for it to divest various businesses. Unless the company can pull off a few miracles in court, it will be forced to shrink. There’s another possibility. Instead of resisting change,...

Amazon delivery driver poops on LA porch

LOS ANGELES, United States: A delivery driver dropped off more than an Amazon package on her weekend route when she stopped to relieve herself outside two different houses. Security camera footage captured the courier, wearing an Amazon vest, climbing the steps of a home in Los Angeles with a parcel in hand. When she walked away from the...

US cybersecurity officials warn against potentially costly Medusa ransomware attacks

LOS ANGELES: The FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are warning against a dangerous ransomware scheme. In an advisory posted earlier this week, government officials warned that a ransomware-as-a-service software called Medusa, which has launched ransomware attacks since 2021, has recently affected hundreds of people. Medusa uses phishing campaigns as its main method for...

China charity boss investigated over sex-for-cash demand to desperate mother of sick child, multiple accusations surface online

The boss of a charity organisation in China has been accused of seeking sexual favours from a desperate mother in exchange for donations to help her seriously ill child. A female charity worker, surnamed Zheng, who helped set up the 9958 Project under the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, publicly accused Lei Ke, the regional...

Dance instructor who secretly filmed women undressing sentenced to decades in US state prison

A Norristown man who secretly recorded seven women changing inside his unlicensed dance studio was sentenced to 26 1/2 to 53 years in state prison by a Montgomery County Court judge who admonished him for taking advantage of women who trusted him. Francis “Frankie G” Laurenzi, 39, was convicted in May of invasion of privacy and...

Kakao billionaire arrested in K-pop market manipulation case

South Korean authorities have arrested Kakao Corp founder Brian Kim over allegations of market manipulation, making the Internet entrepreneur the most prominent business figure in the country in years to wind up in jail. The Seoul Southern District Court made the decision to take the 58-year-old into custody, citing “concerns of evidence destruction and flight”. The...

Elon Musk pursued women working at SpaceX for sex, report says

SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk pursued women working at the company for sex, including a former intern, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing affidavits signed by one of the women and other interviews. Former SpaceX executives told the Journal that company policies aren’t enforced with Musk, and that contributes to a culture of sexism and harassment. President Gwynne Shotwell...

LONDON: Instagram says it’s deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages. The social media platform said in a blog post April 11 that it’s testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of “image...

Crypto and ketamine: The murder that shocked South Korea

SEOUL: It reads like a K-drama plot: an ex-spy kidnaps a woman from an upscale district of Seoul over a crypto dispute, then kills her with drugs from a plastic surgery clinic. The case of purported spy-turned-hitman Lee Kyung-woo, who was sentenced to life in prison in October, has shocked South Korea, a safe and almost drug-free...