31 December 2020 is a Thursday. 1 November is, therefore, Friday. The moment that is neither of them, midnight, is a pivotal moment in the history of financial services. It is at that moment that South Africa's banks become the banks that say "no." No to cheques that is. Anyone to tries to present a cheque after that moment, will be turned away.
The voice sounds vaguely Scandinavian. It claims to represent "Capital Loan."
But the calls come at the same time each day, always from a number that purports to be in Edinburgh.
Here's a list of numbers that the authorities should investigate, that OFCOM should block and that you should ban from your telephone systems. If you get more, let us know and we'll add them.
When we wrote, in early 2010, a satire suggesting that Bernie Ecclestone might improve F1's racing by adding sprinklers to tracks (here ) we didn't expect that a few weeks later he would actually say he thought it was a good idea (but he didn't mention that we'd already put it forward). But the idea gained new impetus with the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix which turned out to be almost a proof of concept - and in doing so produced a race that, visually, looked more like the crazy days of 1970s and 1980s racing before sticky tyres and near-unbreakable downforce turned the sport into an engineering arms race that is at least as important as the driver's skill.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has developed a two-year roadmap to promote Regtech adoption in the Hong Kong banking sector, as laid out in a White Paper entitled “Transforming Risk Management and Compliance: Harnessing the Power of Regtech”.
(HKMA Media Release 3 November 2020 17:45 HK time)
"Brits Are Listening To Ant McPartlin And They’re Raking In Millions From Home" screams the headline - then the e-mail launches into a pitch that is a near replica of what we've seen before. It's using Ant McPartlin as a hook but also Phillip Schofield who is currently riding a wave of publicity.
On 22 October 2020, following the settlement with prosecutors and regulators in the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, the Board of Goldman Sachs, issued a statement on the affair.
On 22 October 2020, following the settlement with prosecutors and regulators in the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, David M. Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, wrote a memorandum to all employees.
In Harris County, Texas, a lawyer who was disbarred in 2016, has become the focus of attention : the District Attorney, Kim Ogg, has issued an appeal for information that might identify victims of fraud by David A. Chaumette.
2 October 2020
Press release: Verbatim
RE: Beware of ‘Quick-and-Easy’ Money-Making Ventures
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority(“CIMA”) cautions the public about entering into investment ventures that promote ‘quick-and-easy’ money, as they can easily become subjects of fraudulent schemes that can result insubstantial financial loss.
The USA's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) are reporting the large-scale re-emergence of the Emotet trojan. Since July 2020, CISA has seen increased activity involving Emotet-associated indicators. During that time, CISAs EINSTEIN Intrusion Detection System, which protects federal, civilian executive branch networks, has detected roughly 16,000 alerts related to Emotet activity. CISA observed Emotet being executed in phases during possible targeted campaigns. Emotet used compromised Word documents (.doc) attached to phishing emails as initial insertion vectors. It spreads via links in e-mails and as macros in .doc files attached to e-mails.
Dogs, palm trees, a rather individual way of life in the tropics - John McAfee - the chap who, effectively, created the software anti-virus industry - has long been a thorn in the side of the US authorities but exactly why he gets so much attention when so many other slide by is a mystery. Yes, there was something about a gun but now he's in trouble for making comments on Twitter. They say he "fraudulently touted" Initial Coin Offerings. Er.. isn't that tautology?
Below is a media release from the Monetary Authority of Singapore that says MAS has issued an order requiring Wirecard and associated business units to forthwith cease operations and to return all funds to customers no later than 14th October 2020. The release was issued on Saturday, 30 September. The date of the Order was not published in the release.
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