Hackers infiltrate eBay to access personal data

Officials at eBay said hackers gained access to customer data,
including names, birth dates, and passwords.
It does not appear that credit card numbers were taken, they said.

By Nicole Perlroth | New York Times   May 22, 2014

 SAN FRANCISCO — In the latest high-profile breach of a company’s computer network, hackers have infiltrated the online marketplace eBay, gaining access to the personal data of 145 million customers, the company said Wednesday.
The hackers broke into an eBay database containing names, e-mail addresses, birth dates, encrypted passwords, physical addresses, and phone numbers.
There was no indication that the attackers obtained financial information such as credit and debit card numbers or gained access to customer accounts at PayPal, which is owned by eBay, said Amanda Miller, a company spokeswoman. The company has not seen evidence of fraudulent activity that could be linked to the breach, she said.
Still, hackers could use the stolen data for identity theft. Personal information — such as e-mails, passwords, and birth dates — is regularly sold on the black market to criminals who use it for phishing or identity theft.
Security experts warned that the stolen information would make eBay customers easy targets for phishing attacks, in which criminals send e-mails that bait victims into clicking on malicious links or direct them to fake login screens where they are asked to enter more valuable information, such as a Social Security number.
“Expect an uptick in phishing. Do not click links in e-mail or discuss anything over the phone,” warned Trey Ford, a strategist at Rapid7, a security firm in Boston.
EBay discovered the breach earlier this month when the company’s internal security team noticed that some of its employees were engaged in unusual activity on its corporate network, said Mark Carges, the company’s chief technology officer. He said eBay uses several different security technologies, which alerted staff to suspicious activity.
EBay contacted the FBI’s San Francisco office as well as an outside computer forensics firm. Working together, they found that hackers had been inside eBay’s corporate network since late February.
By studying computer logs, eBay discovered that hackers had stolen the credentials of several of its employees and, with their user names and passwords, gained unauthorized access to eBay’s corporate network. Once inside, they were able to copy a database containing information on all 145 million of the company’s customers, according to Alan Marks, eBay’s senior vice president of global communications.
Marks said eBay stored its financial data separately. Still, the company advised users with the same password for eBay and PayPal to change passwords immediately on both.
Though notification laws differ, most states require that companies notify customers of a breach only if their names are compromised in combination with other information such as a credit card or a Social Security number. But there are exceptions for encrypted information: As long as companies scramble consumer information with basic encryption, the law does not require firms to tell customers about a breach.
In eBay’s case, the company stored users’ names, e-mail, and physical addresses and birth dates in plain text but encrypted their passwords.

Google must delete 'irrelevant' links at the request of ordinary individuals, rules top EU court

The European Court of Justice struck a major blow against the right of internet companies to hold unlimited information on individuals when it ordered Google to remove links that are deemed “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant”.
The court’s decision will allow individuals the right to ask internet search engines to remove links to information about them that they do not want known – which could be seen either as an assertion of the right to privacy or an attack on free speech. Google and free speech activists reacted angrily to the court’s verdict which could guarantee individuals a “right to be forgotten” on the internet which is not currently available.
It is unclear exactly how the ruling will be implemented considering the sheer volume of online data and internet users. For individuals keen to erase embarrassing incidents from their past, it could prove a handy tool for re-shaping their digital footprint, while data protection advocates are calling it a victory against the all-powerful internet giants.
But for champions of free speech, the potential for misuse is deeply worrying.
“This is akin to marching into a library and forcing it to pulp books,” said Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of Index on Censorship. “Although the ruling is intended for private individuals, it opens the door to anyone who wants to whitewash their personal history.”
It was a repossessed home in Catalonia which sparked the battle between privacy campaigners, search engines such as Google and free speech advocates. Mario Costeja Gonzalez was dismayed to find searches on his name still threw up a 1998 newspaper article on past financial problems, even though many years had passed and his debts were paid off.

Read more: Q&A: The ECJ ruling on Google
Comment: how easy is it to clean up after yourself?
Editorial: A fine principle, but fiendish to implement

A Spanish court referred his request for the link to be removed to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, which ruled in favour of Mr Costeja. The judges decided that search engines did have a duty to make sure that data deemed “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant” did not appear. Ordinary citizens could also request that search engines remove links to sites which contained excessive personal data on them.
Google had argued that it was not in control of the content – it was merely linking to it – and therefore the onus for removing any out-of-date information was on the websites themselves.
“We are very surprised that [this decision] differs so dramatically from the Advocate General’s opinion and the warnings and consequences that he spelled out. We now need to take time to analyse the implications,” said a Google spokesman, Al Verney. He was referring to an opinion issued an adviser to the European Court of Justice last year expressing concern that freedom of speech could be threatened.

 This clash between the right to privacy and the right to information is an ongoing one in Europe. In 2012, the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, proposed a law granting people the right to be forgotten on the internet. The European Parliament however watered it down, and internet companies have been lobbying member states not to approve the legislation.
They have an ally in the free speech groups, which argue that giving an individual the right to decide what can be removed from search engines with no legal oversight has worrying implications.
“The court’s decision is a retrograde move that misunderstands the role and responsibility of search engines and the wider internet,” said Ms Ginsberg. “It should send chills down the spine of everyone in the European Union who believes in the crucial importance of free expression and freedom of information.”
Javier Ruiz, Policy Director at Open Rights Group, agreed. “We need to take into account individuals’ right to privacy, but if search engines are forced to remove links to legitimate content that is already in the public domain... it could lead to online censorship,” he said.

 But the battle lines are not entirely clear. People are increasingly concerned about the safety of their personal data since allegations emerged last year of mass government surveillance. The EU’s Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, called the ruling a “strong tailwind” in the commission’s efforts to tighten data protection in the bloc. “Companies can no longer hide behind their servers being based in California or anywhere else in the world,” she wrote on Facebook.
It is now up to legal experts with search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to work out how they can possibly implement the law, and what processes will be put in place to allow people to appeal against the links,. For the man who started it all, he is pleased that his case has created an opening for ordinary people to stand up to the often faceless Internet giants. “It’s a great relief to be shown that you were right when you have fought for your ideas, it’s a joy,” Mr Costeja told the Associated Press.

Paedophile asks Google to remove pages about his case in wake of historic European Court ruling

Paedophiles, scandal-hit politicians and others seeking to cleanse their online reputations are demanding that Google remove any links to inconvenient truths about their past, in the wake of a historic legal judgement, it has emerged.

The 'take down' requests to the world's biggest internet search engine came after a European Court ruling on Tuesday that people have the “right to be forgotten.” The controversial decision, by the Court of Justice of the European Union, was in response to a case brought by a Spanish man who complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home on Google's search results had infringed his privacy. It applies to all web search companies and will affect hundreds of millions of people living in Europe.
The ruling, described as “disappointing” by Google, means that web search engines face legal action if they refuse to remove information deemed “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant.”
And it has emerged that a former British politician seeking re-election has demanded that links to information about his behaviour in office be removed, while a man convicted of possessing child abuse images has requested links to pages about his conviction be deleted. And a doctor wants negative reviews from patients removed from the results, according to the BBC.
The court decision allowing such demands is in contrast to assurances made by the EU's advocate general last year that search engines were not obliged to honour such 'take down' requests. And although EU Commissioner Viviane Reding supported this week's ruling as “a clear victory for the protection of personal data of Europeans”, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales dubbed it “one of the most wide-sweeping internet censorship rulings that I've ever seen” and warned: “When will a European Court demand that Wikipedia censor an article with truthful information because an individual doesn't like it?”
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman, Google, admitted there are “many open questions” when asked about the impact of the ruling, during the company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. “A simple way of understanding what happened here is that you have a collision between a right to be forgotten and a right to know. From Google's perspective that's a balance,” he commented. “Google believes having looked at the decision, which is binding, that the balance that was struck was wrong.”
The company will need an “army of removal experts” to comply with the ruling, according to a source close to the internet giant. And concern is mounting that there will be a wave of demands by people wishing to clean up their past. Emma Carr, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “It is hardly surprising that people, intent on rewriting their own history, have already requested that Google remove links to articles referring to their past.” She added: “Those arguing that this ruling is a successful move towards 'the right to be forgotten' are quite simply wrong, it is going to be of huge detriment to freedom of speech.” And Ms Carr warned: “There is little doubt that making intermediaries responsible for the actions of the content of other people will inevitably lead to greater surveillance and a risk of censorship.”
In a statement, a Google spokesman said: “The ruling has significant implications for how we handle take down requests.” They added: “As soon as we have thought through exactly how this will work, which may take several weeks, we will let our users know.”

TelexFree Owners Carlos Wanzeler And James Merrill Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud

Federal authorities in the USA may be hard-pressed to arrest TelexFree Inc. co-owner Carlos Wanzeler, who apparently fled to Brazil, a country that is not compelled to turn over its citizens to the United States when they are accused of crimes here.
Wanzeler, 45, is believed to have left his home in Northborough for Brazil by way of Canada, according to officials briefed on his disappearance. He had nearly four weeks to go missing, from the time federal agents raided TelexFree’s Marlborough office in April until last Friday, when Department of Homeland Security investigators arrested Wanzeler’s business partner, James Merrill, on Route 9 in Worcester.
Wanzeler and Merrill, 53, were both charged Friday with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Their company, TelexFree, sold Internet phone-service plans but grew into a global, billion-dollar pyramid scheme, prosecutors alleged, by luring thousands of people around the world to invest in the company.
Merrill is in custody, with a detention hearing scheduled for Friday in Worcester. But Wanzeler, who has dual US-Brazil citizenship, is a fugitive, according to the US Department of Justice. A warrant for Wanzeler’s arrest was issued last Friday.
Wanzeler’s lawyer, Paul Kelly, said Monday, “We are aware of recent legal developments and are evaluating the appropriate actions to be taken on behalf of Mr. Wanzeler.”
If convicted, Merrill and Wanzeler could each face up to 20 years in prison. It’s a long way from the 1990s, when the two men met as Wanzeler and his family sought work at Merrill’s cleaning business. The pair went on to become business partners in commercial cleaning and then moved into a series of telecommunications businesses.
Last month, state and US securities regulators filed civil fraud charges against TelexFree and its principals, just days after the company sought federal bankruptcy protection. The Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of the company and its top people, after one executive during the raid tried to leave with $38 million in cashier’s checks tucked in a bag.
Wanzeler’s flight to Brazil is just the latest frustration for participants in the TelexFree system who have lost money.
“It looks bad on the authorities if they completely lost him and he went to a different country,’’ said Katherine Aguilar, a 20-year-old Worcester student who had invested $2,000 in order to help pay for school. “It kind of makes you wonder, what are they doing? Don’t they keep close eyes on these people?’’
Brazil is not only Wanzeler’s native home but the center, in many ways, of TelexFree’s operation. A third partner who has not been charged in the case, Carlos Costa, lives in Brazil. And the company has targeted many Brazilian immigrants in its alleged scheme.
The Brazilian government has frozen about $350 million of TelexFree’s funds, Wanzeler told investigators at the Massachusetts Securities Division, according to the US attorney’s complaint against the company.
Records from the Brazilian Ministry of the Treasury show that TelexFree bank accounts in that country have received about $446 million in US dollars, according to the complaint. The ministry materials also showed that transfers were made from TelexFree bank accounts to Brazilian bank accounts belonging to Wanzeler, and from there to US accounts in Wanzeler’s name.
Last week in federal court, lawyers for Wanzeler and Merrill asked to have some of their assets unfrozen in order to meet their living expenses. Wanzeler’s lawyer, Kelly, also asked the judge to let him keep $3 million in a Singapore account rather than moving it back to the United States, arguing that the money was frozen so there was no need to move it.
However, Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton on Friday ruled that Wanzeler, Merrill, and their associates must repatriate any monies they have overseas that is related to TelexFree. He also ordered them not to open any new bank accounts or destroy any documents.
Source: Boston Globe

Credit bureaus begin tracking not just if you pay, but how much

Maxing out your payments — not the charges on your cards
— may in the future help to improve your credit score

Credit reports, which track your management of credit cards and loans, increasingly include more details about when and how you pay your debts over time. Whether that extra information will eventually have a broad impact on your credit scores — the three-digit numbers that summarize your credit report and are used by lenders to size you up — remains to be seen.
For decades, credit reports contained essentially the same information, said John Ulzheimer, a credit authority with CreditSesame.com.
For instance, in the case of credit cards, your credit report typically showed your monthly card balance and whether you were current on your payments.
But more recently, he said, the major credit reporting agencies — such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — have started including not only the minimum payment due on the account but also how much you actually paid. That means that it’s now easy to see whether you pay your balance in full before putting new charges on a card, Ulzheimer said, or whether you carry over balances from month to month.
A spokeswoman for Experian said that lenders began reporting payment amounts to credit bureaus more frequently in 2009, after the economic downturn. The information benefits consumers, she said, because it offers “tangible historical proof that they make on-time payments and how large the payment was.”
For now, this greater level of detail in credit reports isn’t reflected in FICO scores, which are widely used by lenders as a metric to evaluate whether a potential borrower is a good credit risk, said Anthony Sprauve, senior consumer credit specialist with FICO.
In part, Sprauve said, that’s because lenders are not yet “broadly and consistently” reporting the more detailed payment data every month to all three bureaus, so it’s not clear whether paying a balance in full each month can truly predict a borrower’s ability to repay debt.
He said that FICO would want to see the data over a period of time and for large numbers of consumers before incorporating payment amounts into the calculation of FICO scores.
TransUnion, however, does incorporate payment amounts into some of its credit-scoring products, like its CreditVision scores, which are used to evaluate risk for new accounts, said Charlie Wise, a vice president in TransUnion’s Innovative Solutions Group. He said payment information is relevant because it helps lenders know if a consumer was using cards mainly for convenience or was a “revolver” who carries a balance. For new accounts, consumers who pay off their balance each month “tend to be less risky” than revolvers, he said.
A spokeswoman for the credit bureau Equifax said that it offered “trended data” about customers’ payments and credit card use. But there is “no consideration” of using the distinction between “transactors,” who pay off the card, and revolvers, who don’t, in a way that would negatively affect a person’s creditworthiness, she said.
Rather, the data are used mostly to help lenders target consumers for special offers and promotions.
Here are some questions about credit scores and credit reports:
■ Does the inclusion of payment data in my credit report mean I should change the way I manage my cards?
It’s yet another reason, besides avoiding interest payments, not to carry a balance on your card, Ulzheimer said.
Traditionally, you could assume that you would maintain good credit as long as you made your minimum payment on time, but that may change. Paying in full each month will eventually result in higher credit scores, he predicts.
“Consumers who want to earn the highest scores are going to have to start using their credit cards in such a way that it allows them to pay in full each month, rather than simply paying some lesser amount before the due date,” he said.
■ How should I manage my credit cards to maintain a good credit score?
Paying at least the minimum payment on time each month is a “must do,” Sprauve said, because your payment history represents more than a third of your FICO score.
But you should also watch your “credit utilization” — the proportion of your available credit you use — which represents about 30 percent of your score, he said. Using no more than 30 percent of your available credit line will help you maintain a good score, he said.
Maxing out, missing payments, or paying less than the minimum all tend to lower your score.
■ How can I check if the payment information in my credit report is accurate?
You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every year.
You can order them using a central website, AnnualCreditReport.com.

TelexFree Members Blame MLM Debacle On ‘Media Disinformation’; Judge Presiding Over SEC Case Receives Doodles

By PatrickPretty.com 11:35 am May 12, 2014

The PP Blog previously has reported on campaigns by members to petition judges to “bail out” TelexFree and consider the purported upside of the “program,” which may be the largest combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme in MLM HYIP history. (Campaigns referenced in this May 10, 2014, PP Blog editorial.)
The docket of U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the District of Massachusetts now shows that members have written letters to the court in support of TelexFree. Gorton is presiding over the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree. The complaint was brought on an emergency basis on April 15. Assets of TelexFree and alleged managers and certain promoters have been frozen.
At least one TelexFree supporter contended in a letter to Gorton that he can “assure” the judge that “media disinformation” is responsible for the problems at TelexFree” and that the company “revolutionized” MLM in a manner that “put out of extreme poverty thousands and thousands of people around the world, if not millions.”
TelexFree, according to the sender, was like a drop of “heaven for poor families.”
Some of the letters appear to be in Spanish, sent to the judge via fax. Some are handwritten. Some are typewritten. A few of them include doodles.
There are letters from the United States. There are letters from the Dominican Republic. Some of the letters appear to have used a shared template, which likely means TelexFree upline/downline groups organized the campaign.
In the 2008 AdSurfDaily case, shared litigation templates were used by certain members who appeared to be more interested in advancing conspiracy theories than understanding the facts of the case. Some of the letters/emails of “support” submitted by ASD in 2008 were used by the government to undermine ASD’s assertion it was not selling securities and was not a Ponzi scheme.
At least one TelexFree member asserted in a letter to Gorton that the “program” gave him an opportunity to earn money from TelexFree by posting ads on the Internet.
On Friday, it became known that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in an undercover probe of TelexFree that began at least by October 2013.
In a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in support of wire-fraud conspiracy charges against TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, a DHS agent involved in the probe alleged an intelligence research specialist within DHS placed more than 700 ads for TelexFree online.
“The ads have resulted in no retail sales of TelexFree’s VOIP product,” the agent alleged.
And, the agent asserted, “the sites on which these ads were posted contained page after page after page of hundreds of nearly identical ads placed by various TelexFree promoters for the identical VOIP service.”
Zeek Rewards, an $850 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme shut down by the SEC in 2012, also had an “advertising” component. So did ASD, a $119 million Ponzi scheme shut down by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.
MLM HYIP schemes have defrauded billions of dollars from participants in recent years. The combined hauls of TelexFree, Zeek and ASD alone may exceed $2.169 billion. That’s nearly double the size of the epic Scott Rothstein Ponzi and racketeering scheme in Florida in 2009.
MLM HYIP swindles typically are aimed at vulnerable populations, with MLMers who have big email lists and experience in one fraud scheme after another scoring tremendous windfalls.

Owners of TelexFree Charged in $1 Billion Pyramid Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 09, 2014

District of Massachusetts (617) 748-3100

BOSTON—James M. Merrill and Carlos N. Wanzeler, principals of TelexFree Incorporated and related entities, were charged today in a federal criminal complaint, charging them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Merrill, 53, of Ashland, Massachusetts, and Wanzeler, 45, of Northborough, Massachusetts, were charged in a one count criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. If convicted, each face up to 20 years in prison. Merrill was arrested today by federal authorities and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Worcester. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Wanzeler who is a fugitive.
United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz said, “The scope of this alleged fraud is breathtaking. As alleged, these defendants devised a scheme, which reaped hundreds of millions of dollars from hard working people around the globe.”
“I am very proud of the tireless efforts of my special agents. Investigating the flow of illicit money across U.S. borders and the criminal enterprises behind that money is one of our top priorities,” said Bruce Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations. “While pyramid schemes are nothing new, the potential scope of this case will hopefully serve as an educational lesson for all. The main point is clear—if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
According to the complaint affidavit, TelexFree Inc. and TelexFree LLC (collectively, TelexFree) provided voice-over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) telephone services, for which customers can sign up via a website maintained by TelexFree. It is alleged that TelexFree was actually a pyramid scheme and that between January 2012 and March 2014, TelexFree purported to aggressively market its VoIP service by recruiting thousands of “promoters” to post ads for the product on the Internet. Each promoter was required to “buy in” to TelexFree at a certain price, after which they were compensated by TelexFree, under a complex compensation structure, on a weekly basis so long as they posted ads for TelexFree’s VoIP service on the Internet.
It is alleged that the ad-posting requirements were a meaningless exercise in which promoters cut and pasted ads into various classified ad sites provided by TelexFree that were already saturated with ads posted by earlier participants. According to the affidavit, TelexFree derived only a fraction of its revenue from sales of VoIP service—less than one percent of TelexFree’s hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the last two years. The overwhelming majority of its revenue—the other roughly 99 percent—came from new people buying into the scheme. TelexFree was allegedly only able to pay the returns it had promised to its existing promoters by bringing in money from newly recruited promoters.
On or about March 8, 2014, TelexFree announced changes to its compensation system. On April 14, 2014, Telexfree filed for bankruptcy. In its filings with the bankruptcy court, Telexfree stated, among other things, that it changed its compensation plan “because questions were raised” about the prior plan and that, after changing the plan, the “discretionary payments...quickly became a substantial drain on the company’s liquidity.”
On April 16, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a restraining order to freeze assets of Telexfree and eight related individuals. Since then, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has executed 37 seizure warrants for assets in the tens of millions of dollars.
It is further alleged that in 2013, TelexFree reported sales of $1.016 billion, while known sales of the TelexFree VoIP product represented less than 0.1 percent of TelexFree’s total revenues.
United States Attorney Ortiz, SAC Foucart and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cory Flashner and Andrew Lelling of Ortiz’s Worcester Branch Office and Economic Crimes Unit, respectively.
If you believe that you are a victim of the alleged TelexFree Inc. scheme, please send your contact information to the following address: USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov
The details contained in the complaint affidavit are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

From: FBI

TelexFree co-owner arrested in Worcester

By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey

  | GLOBE STAFF   MAY 09, 2014

James Merrill, co-owner of TelexFree Inc., the Marlborough company accused of bilking investors in an elaborate pyramid scheme, has been arrested, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office confirmed today.

Authorities also have issued a warrant for the arrest of co-owner Carlos Wanzeler, who is now a fugitive, thought to have fled to Brazil amid a criminal grand jury investigation of the company​

Merrill was arrested by Homeland Security agents this afternoon on Route 9 in Worcester. Charges against him will be filed in U.S. District Court in Worcester.

Related

• 4/19: TelexFree rose from humble beginnings
• 5/8: TelexFree owner appears to have left US

An attorney for Wanzeler said at a hearing Wednesday that he didn’t know the whereabouts of his client, but it “wouldn’t terribly surprise anybody” if the TelexFree principal had traveled to Brazil recently. He said Wanzeler had dual citizenship in Brazil and the United States.

Regulators sued TelexFree and froze the company’s assets last month, alleging the business and its principals were operating an illegal pyramid scheme that may have raised more than $1 billion from people around the world.

The company allegedly recruited thousands of people to buy its Internet long-distance phone service and to open accounts that would pay them returns for helping post online ads for TelexFree. The apparent scheme may have cost Massachusetts investors $90 million.

Merrill and Wanzeler met in the 1990s, when Wanzeler and his family of Brazilian immigrants went to work for Merrill’s Ashland cleaning company, according to court records. In time the two became business partners and expanded into telecommunications.

Merrill, 52, lives in Ashland and still has his cleaning business, though it’s much smaller, he told state regulators.

During an interview, regulators grilled Merrill on various aspects of TelexFree’s website, including photos of him standing in front of their Marlborough building and one in Rio de Janeiro. In particular, they asked him about the claim on the site that he was an economics graduate from Westfield State University in Massachusetts.

Merrill told the investigators that was not true, that he had not finished school. He had tried to get his colleagues to correct the site, he said, “to no avail.”

Many of the alleged victims of TelexFree are immigrants from Brazil or the Dominican Republic, drawn into TelexFree’s marketing pitch by other members of their community who boasted of the huge sums they were making for the simple job of promoting an Internet telephone service that made calling overseas cheaper.

TelexFree filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Nevada last month. But a federal judge in Las Vegas sent the case to Massachusetts this week at the request of federal regulators.

Lawyers representing the company have argued in court that the company’s owners have a legitimate business selling Internet-based telephone service for long-distance calls and a mobile phone application to accompany it. They said TelexFree filed for

federal bankruptcy protection in Nevada last month so it can reorganize the business and generate more revenue for its participants.

But the SEC said in court this week that there is no meaningful business to speak of at TelexFree. “We believe there’s nothing to reorganize here,’’ said Frank Huntington, an SEC lawyer.

Huntington said that, by TelexFree’s accounting, the company has about $100 million in assets that could be available to creditors, most of whom are the company’s participants and promoters.

That figure includes $38 million in cashier’s checks the company’s acting chief financial officer allegedly carried with him last month as he attempted to leave TelexFree’s offices while federal agents were there seizing computers and records.

Related:

4/19: TelexFree rose from humble beginnings

5/8: TelexFree owner appears to have left US

Court forces out Thai leader, part of her Cabinet

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
was greeted by supporters gathered outside
the Permanent Secretary of Defence office
in Bangkok on Wednesday.

By Thanyarat Doksone | Associated Press   May 07, 2014

BANGKOK — Thailand’s prime minister was ordered by a court to step down Wednesday in a divisive ruling that handed a victory to anti-government protesters who have staged six months of street protests — but does little to resolve the country’s political crisis.
The Constitutional Court found Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of abusing her power by transferring a senior civil servant in 2011 to another position. It ruled that the transfer was carried out to benefit her politically powerful family and, therefore, violated the constitution — an accusation she has denied.
The ruling also forced out nine Cabinet members but left nearly two dozen other ministers in their posts, including Deputy Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, who was quickly appointed the new acting leader.
‘‘Transferring government officials must be done in accordance with moral principle,’’ the court said in its ruling, read aloud on live television for almost 90 minutes. ‘‘Transferring with a hidden agenda is not acceptable.’’
Smiling and looking relaxed, Yingluck appeared live on national television two hours after the verdict to thank her supporters, emphasize that she was an elected leader and assert her innocence.
‘‘We held true to the principles of honesty in running the country, and never acted corruptly, as we were accused,’’ said Yingluck, 46, who swept to power nearly three years ago as the country’s first female prime minister.
The judgment marks the latest dramatic twist in Thailand’s long-running political crisis. It was a victory for Yingluck’s opponents, mostly from the urban elite and those in the south, who have been engaged in vociferous and sometimes violent street protests demanding she step down to make way for an interim unelected leader.
However, the ruling leaves the country in political limbo and primed for more violence. Since November, more than 20 have been killed and hundreds injured in sporadic gun-battles, drive-by shootings and grenade attacks.
The court’s decision casts doubt on whether new elections planned for July will take place, which would anger Yingluck’s mostly rural supporters who have called for a major rally Saturday in Bangkok.
‘‘Today’s verdict is just a bump on the road of democracy, but we will still keep moving on,’’ said Jatuporn Prompan, leader of the pro-Yingluck Red Shirt protest movement. ‘‘Our stance has been clear ... if an illegal prime minister steps in, we will fight. If there’s a coup, we will fight.’’
It also remains far from clear whether her opponents will be able to achieve other key demands, including creating a reform council overseen by a leader of their choice that will carry out various steps to rid the country of corruption and what they claim is money politics, including alleged vote-buying.
Yingluck and her Pheu Thai party remain very popular among the country’s poor majority, particularly in the north and northeast. But she is despised by Bangkok’s middle and upper class as a puppet of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister and polarizing figure.
Thailand’s political upheaval began in 2006 when Thaksin was ousted in a military coup after protests accusing him of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for constitutional monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Thaksin’s supporters say the Thai establishment opposes him because their position of privilege has been threatened by his electoral popularity, cemented by populist programs that benefited the less well-off in the countryside.
Thailand’s courts, like its military, are seen as bastions of anti-Thaksin conservatism, and have a record of hostile rulings toward the Shinawatra political machine, which is fueled by a fortune Thaksin made in the telecommunications sector. Thaksin’s opponents, including those who have rioted and attacked police, destroyed public property and occupied government offices, have usually been treated leniently by the courts.
Analysts called the decision a damaging one for Thailand’s judicial system.
‘‘The credibility of the justice system has vaporized,’’ said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin. ‘‘The royalist conservatives may celebrate this judicial coup. But the world will mourn over the death of another democracy.’’
In 2007, the Constitutional Court made a landmark ruling dissolving Thaksin’s original Thai Rak Thai party for fraud in a 2006 election, and banned its executives from politics for five years. Thaksin went into self-imposed exile in 2008 to escape a two-year jail sentence for conflict of interest while prime minister.
Thaksin’s allies in late 2007 handily won the first post-coup election, but the Constitutional Court in 2008 kicked out two successive pro-Thaksin prime ministers.
A coalition government then cobbled together by the opposition Democrat Party had to use the army to put down pro-Thaksin demonstrations in 2010 that left more than 90 people dead in street battles, but Yingluck and her Pheu Thai party won a sweeping majority in a mid-2011 general election.
Yingluck’s fortunes plunged when her party’s lawmakers late last year used shady legislative tactics to try to ram through a law that would have given an amnesty to political offenders of the previous eight years, including Thaksin. The move reignited mass anti-government demonstrations.
Seeking to ease the pressure, Yingluck in December dissolved the lower House and called elections for Feb. 2. But her opponents on the street disrupted the polls, which in turn were invalidated by the courts.

Las Vegas judge to send TelexFree case back to Mass.

By Beth Healy | Globe Staff   May 06, 2014

 A federal judge in Las Vegas has ruled that the TelexFree Inc. bankruptcy case will be moved to Massachusetts, after regulators argued that the Marlborough phone-service company had virtually no operations in Nevada.

US Bankruptcy Judge August B. Landis made a ruling from the bench Tuesday to move the case to Massachusetts and temporarily suspend proceedings, a court official confirmed.
TelexFree filed for Chapter 11 protection on a Sunday night last month, 2,700 miles away from its main office in Massachusetts, just days before state and federal securities regulators brought civil fraud charges against the company’s principals.
Federal agents raided TelexFree’s Marlborough office on April 15, two days after the bankruptcy filing, and regulators soon froze the company’s assets. Secretary of State William F. Galvin accused the company of luring $90 million from Massachusetts residents who signed up for TelexFree’s Internet phone service and opened investment accounts with the company on promises of large returns.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said as much as $300 million may have been invested across the country. Federal authorities had urged the Las Vegas court to send the case to Massachusetts, alleging that TelexFree filed for bankruptcy protection in Las Vegas merely to evade regulators and victims in the Boston area.
Paul Levenson, chief of the SEC’s Boston office, said, “We’re pleased that the bankruptcy court in Nevada has sent the matter back to Massachusetts so that we can address the many issues this case raises, in a systemic way, here in Massachusetts.’’
A spokeswoman for TelexFree did not respond to requests for comment.
Among other reasons, the SEC wanted the bankruptcy case moved because the regulator’s civil case will be heard in Boston in another federal court. The SEC also argued that it would be more efficient to coordinate legal maters in Boston if a fund was eventually established for victims. Many of TelexFree’s alleged victims live in Massachusetts.
The judge’s decision also means a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of some TelexFree victims will be transferred to Boston, according to Robert J. Bonsignore, a Belmont, N.H., lawyer who filed the case initially in Nevada. The case, filed on behalf of two Massachusetts residents, seeks damages for victims and names numerous parties as defendants beyond TelexFree and its principals, including banks and lawyers.
“I think that the bankruptcy judge in Nevada made a sound ruling, and that moving it to Massachusetts makes common sense and will in the end benefit the victims,’’ Bonsignore said.
TelexFree was shut down by a judge in Brazil in 2013 and then shifted its attention to US investors, according to the lawsuits filed by regulators and Bonsignore. The company has thousands of victims around the world, according to the regulators.
In Massachusetts, the company appears to have targeted predominantly Brazilian and Dominican immigrant communities.

Opposition Campaigns, Claiming Secret CPP Defections

BY MECH DARA | MAY 6, 2014

Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha again divided campaigning responsibilities for the May 18 council elections Monday, with Mr. Rainsy touring parts of Kratie province in the morning and Mr. Sokha leading supporters in a march through Phnom Penh in the evening.

In a meeting Monday morning with his party’s commune councilors in Kratie province, Mr. Rainsy reiterated the themes he and Mr. Sokha had raised in Kompong Cham, threatening that the ruling party’s own commune councilors will vote against it in the May 18 district, city and provincial council elections.

“There is an important and clear change in the commune council members from the CPP, and the CPP is scared,” Mr. Rainsy said.

Only commune councilors can vote in the May 18 ballot.

Mr. Rainsy also drew on the same themes of border encroachment and illegal immigration he and Mr. Sokha had raised on Sunday.

“In Snuol district, the yuon moved the border markers 10 km, and that’s not unusual,” he said, using a term for Vietnamese that can be derogatory.

“In Kratie, they moved it 10 km because it is forest and mountains and there are no people. Therefore they keep pushing it closer, and our leaders pull back and let the yuon flow in freely,” Mr. Rainsy said.

Mr. Rainsy later returned to Phnom Penh, from where he and Mr. Sokha will tomorrow depart for more campaigning in the western provinces, starting in Kompong Chhnang.

In Phnom Penh, Mr. Sokha on Monday belatedly joined the party’s third campaign march through the city, which had once again been started by CNRP executive committee chairman Yim Sovann.

Mr. Sokha also predicted secret ruling party defections to the opposition that would help the CNRP come May 18.

“Tuol Kok is the home of the top leaders of the CPP, but we saw the people open their doors to congratulate the CNRP,” Mr. Sokha said.

National Election Committee secretary-general Tep Nytha also said Monday that the CNRP’s campaigning was now condoned, after suggestions from authorities last week that campaigning would not be allowed.

“Previously, City Hall requested the election committee to cut down election campaign to only have rallies at party offices,” he explained.

“Then the [opposition] party agreed it would not turn the election campaign into something else…such as incitement or demonstrations.”

From: TheCamodiadialy.com

How to Get a Premium Google Adsense Account

Google Adsense is one of the top most and famous advertising network which is mainly running by Google Team. This network has got first place in the list of top cost per click (CPC) advertisement programs. Google Adsense allow the users to monetize their website or blog in order to make money from it by showing advertisements that are relevant to site content. On normal basis whenever a new Google publisher applies for Adsense account, he/she gets only normal adsense account. Google also allow its users to use premium Google adsense program but in order to utilize it you first need to use normal account and need maximum visitors towards your website in millions on monthly basis.

Getting Premium Adsense Account Service

If you are willing for getting a premium adsense account, then it is not easy task. You need to fulfill conditions in order to get the premium service account  such as :

• Your site is getting more than 5 millions search queries per month
• More than 20 millions article pageviews
• You are must using top level domains like .com , .org etc
• Your site is getting maximum visitors means huge traffic  on daily basis
• Fresh and unique content on your site is present (main condition)
• You are getting million visitors in month.

There are a lot of technology and other niche based websites that are using this premium service from Google.  Take an example of Engadget.com , CNET.com
If your site is getting huge number of visitors daily in millions then you don’t need to apply for premium account, Google team will automatically invite you in order to use Premium Google Adsense Account.  Therefore, complete the above conditions mentioned above in order to get premium service Google Adsense account.
Also Read : Tips to Boost your site traffic

Benefits Of Getting Premium Google Adsense Account

Once you have got the premium account from Google Adsense team, you will get different kind of benefits such as :

•  Easily Get Business Support from Account Manager
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Let us know your thoughts on this article by leaving your comments below.

Anonymous Cambodia is Famous now!

Anonymous Cambodia is a group of Khmer youth who know about hacking website! They gather together to hack all the important websites in Cambodia include some of the government's websites, some famous NGOs, even some small NGO website and companies. When they hack any websites successfully, they said "The Corrupt fear us, the Honest support us, the Heroic join us. We do not forgive, we do not forget, Expect us".
Most of the firms that have website are worrying about that. Noticed that some of the hackers are arrested already!
Picture Credit: Capture form my computer screen (my website which was also hacked by them)

Philippines police arrest webcam extortion suspects

Victims duped into exposing themselves on webcams, including a Scottish teenager who killed himself after being blackmailed.
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Philippines police, backed by Interpol, have arrested dozens of suspected members of an online extortion syndicate who duped hundreds of victims into exposing themselves in front of webcams, including a Scottish teenager who killed himself after being blackmailed, officials have said.

At least 58 Filipino suspects in the capital, Manila, and other cities were arrested after investigators from Interpol, the US homeland security department and other police agencies traced online chats from some of the victims' computers, said the Philippines national police chief, Alan Purisima.

Purisima said the syndicate would secretly record victims after tricking them into exposing their bodies or having cybersex, and later threaten to send the videos to their relatives and friends unless they paid $500 to $2,000 (£300 to £1,200).

He said members of the "sextortion" group would create fake Facebook accounts of fictitious young women and lure victims with pornographic materials after striking up online chats with them.

Hong Kong police inspector Louis Kwan Chung-yin said more than 470 people from Hong Kong fell victim to the scam last year and about 160 this year. In one case, a victim paid the equivalent of $15,000, he said.

Sanjay Virmani, director of the Interpol digital crime centre in Singapore, said the victims came from Asia, Europe and the US. He said that the suspected extortionist had been tracked down using evidence from computers and intelligence information from police.

Warning those still engaged in cyberextortion in the Philippines and elsewhere, Virmani said: "You better be prepared for the consequences of your actions because as you can see we have made a commitment to work together. You will be caught and you will be held accountable for your actions."

Scottish police officer Gary Cunningham said he was representing the 17-year-old boy's family in tracking down those responsible for events leading to his death last year. He said the family was "extremely supportive … in bringing to justice to individuals out there who have fallen victims to these crimes."

Senior Supt Gilbert Sosa, chief of the Philippine national police anti-cybercrime group, said the amounts extorted from the victims ran into millions of pesos, or tens of thousands of dollars.

"This is not an issue directly involving the Philippines exclusively," the British ambassador to Manila, Asif Ahmad, said. "Cybercrime is international, and is an international problem, it respects no nationality or borders. We are all potential victims of cybercrime, none of us are immune."

From: http://www.theguardian.com/