Tag: crime

These Are The Most Prevalent Forms Of Cyber Crime

Owed in part to the pandemic-induced increased shift from offline to online, cyber attacks have become a lucrative avenue for criminals in recent years. 

As Florian Zandt reports, Statista experts estimate global losses of $7.1 trillion in 2022 compared to 2019’s $1.2 trillion, with crypto exchange and protocol hacks by prolific groups like the state-affiliated North Korean hacking team Lazarus dramatically increasing in the years 2021 and 2022 according to Chainalysis. While the number of hacks and the damage caused has been on a constant uptick, the types of cyber attacks have shifted dramatically in the past five years.

In 2017, roughly 42 percent of recorded cyber crimes were connected to non-payment or non-delivery.

This category includes purchases made via fraudulent online stores that never materialize and promised payments never arriving.

Personal data breaches and phishing scams constituted an additional 28 percent, while identity theft, credit card fraud and other cyber attacks had a relatively low share in all reported cyber crimes.

Five years later, phishing has become the most prevalent cyber attack. This past year, more than half of criminal online activity was connected to this long-running type of cyber crime.

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Leader in Richmond Democrat Party group posted bomb threat against Andy Ngo Virginia talk

An official member of the Democrat Party in Richmond, Virginia, posted a bomb threat against journalist Andy Ngo on Friday. 

Jimmie Lee Jarvis, the owner of Mission Control Research and Consulting in Richmond, posted the bomb threat on X ahead of Ngo’s speaking event organized by The Virginia Council and Common Sense Society at the Commonwealth Club in Richmond, Virginia.

The post included an image of dynamite with Jarvis writing in the description box, “On my way to the Andy Ngo event!”

According to the official website of Richmond Democrats, Jimmie Lee Jarvis is listed as an official member of the Richmond City Democratic Committee.

Jarvis’ threat was one of many that came from radical leftists ahead of Ngo’s speaking event, which resulted in two venues pulling out at the last minute.

While Ngo, senior editor of The Post Millennial, explained that the event was ultimately a success after the third venue refused to cave to the coordinated campaign attack of threats issued by Antifa and other far-left activists, Marriott forced the Westin to cancel the venue just hours before it was set to kick off on Friday. Earlier in the week, the Commonwealth Club pulled out from allowing its venue to be used for the event following harassment and threats of violence.

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Sam Bankman-Fried’s dad allegedly had advisory role at top Democratic ‘dark money network’

Joseph Bankman, the father of troubled former crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, allegedly held an advisory role at a top Democratic dark money network, an arrangement a watchdog says “deserves serious scrutiny.”

The allegation appeared in a lawsuit Bankman-Fried’s former company, FTX, filed against his parents Monday after they allegedly “exploited their access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves, directly and indirectly, by millions of dollars,” the company’s lawyers wrote. FTX is seeking to recoup money to pay owed debts.

Bankman-Fried’s father, a Stanford University law professor, “sat on the advisory board of Arabella Advisors,” according to the complaint. 

Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, manages a nonprofit network that provides fiscal sponsorship to dozens of left-wing groups.

The funds it manages, which include the New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Windward Fund and Hopewell Fund, collectively raise over a billion dollars in anonymous cash annually and, in turn, also shower liberal causes and initiatives with money nationwide.

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LEADING DEMOCRAT IN MARYLAND SENATE RACE ONCE BLAMED MURDERS ON DECRIMINALIZED POT

EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE Maryland voters will cast their ballots in a rare U.S. Senate primary, the bulk of the state’s Democratic machine has already consolidated behind one candidate. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks emerged as a front-runner shortly after announcing her candidacy, garnering endorsements from major Democratic officials and organizations before her campaign had any issue platforms listed on its website. 

The race presents a unique opportunity to fill a safely blue seat with a new candidate for the first time in 16 years. If Alsobrooks is successful, she would become Maryland’s first Black senator. While Democrats have embraced Alsobrooks’s historic campaign with enthusiasm, however, her record on criminal justice has largely gone overlooked.

During past campaigns for Prince George’s state’s attorney, Alsobrooks positioned herself as staunchly “tough-on-crime.” In addition to pushing the notion that cannabis decriminalization led to drug dealers murdering each other, she has supported DNA collection of people without criminal convictions, putting police in schools, and harsh penalties in a variety of situations, among other positions opposed by justice system reformers. 

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House Democrats File Marijuana Legalization And Expungements Bill

A top House Democrat has reintroduced a bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, with provisions to expunge prior cannabis convictions.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, refiled the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act on Wednesday. There are 33 initial cosponsors—all Democrats.

The comprehensive legalization legislation has passed the House twice in recent sessions—but this marks the first time it’s being introduced with Republicans in control of the chamber, raising serious questions about whether it will move. The Judiciary Committee, which is the primary panel of jurisdiction, is chaired by anti-cannabis Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

Even the prospects of a modest marijuana banking bill that’s set for committee action in the Senate next week are uncertain in the House under the GOP majority. That said, a GOP-led House panel did advance legislation on Wednesday to prevent the denial of federal employment or security clearances based on a candidate’s past cannabis use.

In any case, advocates have long touted the MORE Act as an example of the type of wide-ranging cannabis reform legislation that would not only end prohibition but take steps to right the wrongs of prohibition and promote social equity.

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Seattle Leaders Pass Law To Prosecute Drug Possession And Public Use

The Seattle City Council voted 6–3 Tuesday to align the city’s municipal code with a 2023 state law making public drug use and possession a gross misdemeanor and give the City Attorney’s Office authority to prosecute those crimes.

Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Andrew Lewis, Debora Juarez, Sara Nelson, Alex Pedersen and Dan Strauss voted in support. Councilmembers Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant voted against.

Supporters argue the legislation is a critical tool for addressing a worsening drug crisis and that language in the bill is meant to push people with substance use disorders to treatment. Opponents say it’s a return to a failed drug war tactic that will incarcerate drug users and disproportionately impact Black and brown residents rather than provide people the help they need.

Tuesday was the Council’s second attempt to align city municipal code with state drug possession laws. In June, a bill co-sponsored by Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen at the behest of City Attorney Ann Davison was voted down 5–4. In a last-minute turn that killed the June bill, Councilmember Andrew Lewis said that while he supported aligning state and city law, he could not support a bill without a stronger plan for treatment.

In the intervening months, Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Lewis co-sponsored a new version of the bill that places greater emphasis on diversion and treatment and attempts to outline the “last resort” conditions under which officers should arrest drug users.

In its simplest terms, the passage of the Council bill puts the state drug possession law into Seattle’s Municipal Code. The law states that public drug possession or use is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000. For someone with two prior convictions for drug possession, the maximum penalty can increase to 364 days.

By adopting the language of the state law into city code, the council granted the Seattle City Attorney’s Office authority to prosecute drug possession charges. When drug possession was a felony in Washington, that authority resided with the King County Prosecutor.

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Jury finds Florida black nationalist guilty of lesser manslaughter charge for killing officer execution-style

Black nationalist Othal Wallace, who shot Florida police officer Jason Raynor in the head in 2021, which ultimately killed him, was found guilty of manslaughter for his actions.

The verdict came shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, per Fox News.

Wallace was promptly put in handcuffs and taken into custody following the guilty verdict, and did not appear to have any reaction. 

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood issued a statement following the verdict, saying, “The message I take away from this jury is that it’s open season on law enforcement.”

He added, “A lesser charge of Manslaughter for the MURDER of Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor is a slap in the face of everyone who puts on a uniform.”

Chitwood continued, “The same Othal Wallace who posted ‘1 Day I Will Take Great Pride And Honor In Getting Me Some Pigs Blood On My Hands And Boots’ may just get the chance to walk free one day.”

“Jason Raynor doesn’t get that chance. His family only gets to hold onto his memory. His life may not matter to the jury, but it mattered to us. My faith in the American jury has been shaken before. I have seen juries ignore video evidence and disregard victims. I have never been more disgusted by a verdict than I am today. My heart goes out to the family and friends of Officer Raynor who must feel many magnitudes of pain all over again. All I can say is I agree and share your anger.”

Originally, the 29-year-old Othal “O’Zone” Wallace was slapped with a charge for attempted first-degree murder after he had shot Raynor in the head. Raynor had been taken to the hospital, and later died from the gunshot wound.

Days later, Wallace was captured while hiding in a tree house located in DeKalb County, Georgia. The three-acre property where he was discovered was tied with the Not F—ing Around Coalition (NFAC), a black nationalist paramilitary organization. Aside from Wallace himself, numerous flash bangs, rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns, and several boxes of ammunition were discovered in the treehouse. 

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Accused murderer’s lawyers blame killing of 2 teens on ‘ritualistic sacrifice’ by white nationalists

Attorneys for a man charged with the murders of two Indiana women are claiming the victims died in a “ritualistic sacrifice” conducted by white nationalists, NBC5 reported.

Richard Allen’s lawyers said several white nationalists practicing the religion Odinism “ritualistically sacrificed” victims Abigail Williams and Liberty German in Delphi, Indiana back in 2017. Evidence found at the crime scene included symbols “in the form of runes made up of sticks and fashioned with tree branches,” according to NBC5’s report.

Defense attorneys said the evidence was left behind by Odinites, who practice a racist version of the Norse pagan religion known as Asatru.

“According to the filings, detectives previously obtained information that connected two groups of men who practiced Odinism to the murders, one in or near Delphi and another that lived in Rushville,” NBC5’s report stated.

“Writing in the court documents, defense attorneys stated that a letter regarding the possible connection between the killings and the group practicing Odinisim in Rushville was withheld by the prosecution. The attorneys accused prosecutors, as well as multiple law enforcement officers, from hiding information about the Odinist connections to the murders, the documents revealed.”

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Kenyan Immigrant, Named North Texas’s Deadliest Serial Killer, Killed in Prison

Billy Chemirmir, a 50-year-old Kenyan accused of murdering 24 elderly American women and convicted for two of the murders, has reportedly been killed by his cellmate at a prison southeast of Dallas, Texas.

The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to WFAA that Chemirmir was found dead in his prison cell on Tuesday morning at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, which is southeast of Dallas. His cellmate was “identified as the assailant,” according to officials.

As Breitbart News has chronicled for years, Chemirmir was convicted last year for murdering 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Later that year, he was convicted of murdering 87-year-old Mary Brooks and had been indicted in multiple other murders.

Chemirmir stole from his elderly victims, posing as a caregiver, before selling their belongings on eBay from April 2016 to April 2018. To murder his victims, Chemirmir would smother them with a pillow, leading investigators to first assume that many of the victims had died of natural causes.

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Zoraida Bartolomei and Alberto Rolon – the Chicago couple shot dead with their two sons and three dogs in mysterious massacre – as cops hunt gunman and the victim’s sister pleads for ‘answers’ about ‘horrific crime’

The family of four who were massacred in their Illinois home along with their three dogs have been pictured for the first time as cops continue to hunt for the killer. 

Zoraida Bartolomei, 32, her husband Alberto Rolon – also known as Roberto – and their children Adriel, 10, and Diego, seven, were shot in their family bungalow in Romeoville, a suburb of Chicago, on Sunday.

Romeoville Police Department investigators have ruled out a murder-suicide and warned the murderer is still on the loose.

Their family said they have no idea why anyone would want to kill them, and Zoraida’s devastated sister has issued a plea for answers.

Sharing a photograph of the family on Facebook, Bryana Bartolomei said: ‘I want to know what happened to my nephews, my sister, her husband, and WHY?

‘They were shot and killed in their home.’ 

The picture shows Zoraida and Alberto beaming with their two sons, one playfully holding a strand of his mother’s hair.

A fundraiser created to cover funeral expenses was created on Monday, describing their children as ‘the sweetest most innocent angels’.

Friends described them as ‘hardworking people that had just bought their first home’.

‘Their kids were the sweetest most innocent angels who could hug your worries away,’ the fundraiser says.

‘In just a few hours their lives, their family’s lives completely changed. The world is going to be a much dimmer place without them.’

They pleaded for anyone with information about the gunman to contact police.

Zoraida’s mother Lydia from Puerto Rico earlier told DailyMail.com they were ‘so happy’ and had only bought their $250,000 Romeoville home five months ago. 

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