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Most Popular Internet Scam In 2009: Impersonating The FBI

by on March 12, 2010

WASHINGTON — The cost of Internet fraud doubled in 2009 to about $560 million, the FBI said Friday. The most common type of frauds reported were scams from people falsely claiming to be from the FBI. Individual complaints of Internet scams grew more than 20 percent last year, according to a report issued by the FBI in partnership with a private fraud-fighting group, the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The amounts taken by individual frauds ranged from less than $30 to more than $100,000, officials said. The most frequently reported scams were those that falsely used the FBI’s name, accounting for 16 percent of the more than 300,000 complaints received last year. Some of those frauds have even featured e-mails purporting to be from FBI Director Robert Mueller, though the e-mail addresses of the senders often betray the con, authorities said. Peter Trahon, head of the FBI’s cyber division, said people should evaluate the e-mail pitches they receive “with a healthy skepticism – if something seems to good to be true, it likely is.” For example, one popular scam last year involved a phone pitch made by someone who sounded a lot like President Barack Obama. The recorded message told people to visit a Web site to get government stimulus money. When victims who visited the site entered personal information and paid $28 in fees, they were promised a big stimulus check, but got nothing. ___ On the Net: Internet Crime Report: http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2009_IC3Report.pdf

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Most Popular Internet Scam In 2009: Impersonating The FBI

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U.S. Budget Gap Rises to Record $221 Billion on Spending to Revive Economy

by on March 10, 2010

By Vincent Del Giudice March 10 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. posted its largest budget deficit on record in February as the government boosted spending to help revive the economy. The excess of spending over revenue increased to $221 billion last month, compared with a deficit of $194 billion in February 2009, according to Treasury Department figures released today in Washington. In fiscal 2009 that ended in September, the shortfall reached a record $1.4 trillion . A deficit that will probably exceed $1 trillion for a second year underscores the challenges facing the Obama administration and Congress as they seek to preserve the recovery, spur job growth and pass health care reform. The loss of 8.4 million jobs the last two years has been limiting tax revenue, while stimulus efforts such as the first-time homebuyers credit have added to expenses. “It’s mostly the recession if you look at the deficit numbers,” said David Wyss , chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. To finance the shortfalls, “we’re borrowing a lot of money from abroad. At some point, foreign investors are going to be unwilling to fund it,” he said. The February deficit was in line with the $222 billion economists anticipated, based on the median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from shortfalls of $180 billion to $225 billion. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, in a report issued March 5, projected a deficit of $223 billion for February. Spending for February increased 17 percent from the same month a year ago, to $328.4 billion. Revenue and other income rose 23 percent to $107.5 billion, according to the Treasury. First Five Months The deficit five months into the 2010 fiscal year was $651.6 billion compared with $589.8 billion during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Corporate tax receipts totaled $45.4 billion for the year to date versus $52.8 billion in the same five months in fiscal 2009. Individual income tax collections were down 14 percent so far this fiscal year to $334 billion. In other categories, spending by the Social Security Administration rose to $308.6 billion from $290.1 billion for the fiscal year to date. Spending by the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Medicare and Medicaid health programs, rose to $342 billion from $319.6 billion. Defense Department spending rose to $273.9 billion from $267.4 billion, while spending on the Troubled Asset Relief Program fell to $8.7 billion from $113.3 billion. The government’s $787 billion economic rescue plan contributed to the record deficit in fiscal year 2009. The shortfall will probably exceed $1 trillion this year, according to the White House and congressional budget officials. Debt Limit Mounting monthly deficits prompted President Barack Obama to sign a bill on Feb. 12 that raised the federal debt limit by $1.9 trillion to $14.3 trillion. The increase was required to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its bills. It is more than twice the size of any of the four previous debt increases lawmakers approved in the past two years. The CBO said March 5 that the Obama’s 2011 budget proposal would create bigger annual deficits than projected. The CBO said the budget shortfall will remain above 4 percent of gross domestic product for the foreseeable future while the publicly held debt will reach $20.3 trillion, or 90 percent of GDP, by 2020. Economists generally consider deficits exceeding 3 percent of GDP to be unsustainable because that means government debt is growing faster than the ability to pay back the money. Obama’s budget request projected the government would run $8.5 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Del Giudice in Washington at vdelgiudicebloomberg.net

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U.S. Budget Gap Rises to Record $221 Billion on Spending to Revive Economy

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Obama’s Loan Modification Plan ‘Destined To Fail’: Amherst Securities (TRANSCRIPT)

December 8, 2009

In Congressional testimony today, a mortgage market expert offered scathing criticism of the Obama administration’s plan to help distressed homeowners, arguing that the plan is “destined to fail.” Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group, blasted Obama’s mortgage modification plan for failing to help struggling borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth. According to a report issued last month by First American CoreLogic, nearly one in four American homeowners have what are referred to as “underwater mortgages.” And about 40 percent of borrowers who took out home loans in 2006 are currently contending with negative equity, the report noted. Goodman was adamant about the prevalence of the negative equity trap: “The evidence is irrefutable. Negative equity is the most important predictor of default. When the borrower has negative equity, unemployment acts as one of the many possible catalysts, increasing the probability of default.” Amherst estimates that, unless the widely-criticized $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is reconfigured, approximately 7 million to 7.9 million homeowners who are late on their mortgages will eventually be forced out of their homes. Here’s more from Goodman: “We are concerned that if policies continue to kick the can down the road — working with a modification problem that does not address negative equity — delinquencies will continue to spiral down with no end in sight” READ Goodman’s full testimony: goodman – Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter !

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Philippine Flood Deaths Reach 240; Government Criticized for Its Response

September 28, 2009

By Aaron Sheldrick and Francisco Alcuaz Jr. Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — The death toll in the Philippines from Tropical Storm Ketsana almost doubled overnight to 240 people as the government said it will seek aid for hundreds of thousands of people in emergency shelters. The National Disaster Coordinating Council agency said at least 37 people are missing in a report issued at 6 a.m. today. At least 140 were confirmed dead, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters in Manila yesterday. More than 374,800 people are in evacuation centers, the council said. The government declared “states of calamity” for the Manila metropolitan region and other parts of Luzon island as well as Mindoro island to the south. The storm and floods have “really overwhelmed our system,” Anthony Golez , the officer in charge of the Office of Civil Defense, said in a phone interview yesterday. Clean water, food, cooking gas and medicines are difficult to find, said Cora Guidote , a corporate executive helping in relief operations in Marikina, northern Manila. “The situation is pretty desperate,” she said. Business is “at a standstill because of mud and muck everywhere. People are tired of cleaning with very little sleep. Kids and old people are getting sick.” Ketsana, called Ondoy in the Philippines, was over the South China Sea heading toward Vietnam today, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning center. The storm, now a typhoon with winds of 167 kilometers (101 miles) per hour, was 287 kilometers east of Hue at 1 a.m. Vietnamese time today. Ketsana is the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the eastern island of Samar in June last year, leaving 730 people dead and 637 missing. Ketsana dropped more than a month’s rain on northern Manila, the weather bureau said. About 411 millimeters (16 inches) fell there, exceeding the September monthly average of 391 millimeters and the bureau’s record for one day of 331 millimeters in 1967. To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net .

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Philippines Flood Death Toll Climbs to 240, More Than 374,000 Evacuated

September 28, 2009

By Aaron Sheldrick and Francisco Alcuaz Jr. Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — The death toll in the Philippines from Tropical Storm Ketsana almost doubled overnight to 240 people as the government said it will seek aid for hundreds of thousands of people in emergency shelters. The National Disaster Coordinating Council agency said at least 37 people are missing in a report issued at 6 a.m. today. At least 140 were confirmed dead, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters in Manila yesterday. More than 374,800 people are in evacuation centers, the council said. The government declared “states of calamity” for the Manila metropolitan region and other parts of Luzon island as well as Mindoro island to the south. The storm and floods have “really overwhelmed our system,” Anthony Golez , the officer in charge of the Office of Civil Defense, said in a phone interview yesterday. Clean water, food, cooking gas and medicines are difficult to find, said Cora Guidote , a corporate executive helping in relief operations in Marikina, northern Manila. “The situation is pretty desperate,” she said. Business is “at a standstill because of mud and muck everywhere. People are tired of cleaning with very little sleep. Kids and old people are getting sick.” Ketsana, called Ondoy in the Philippines, was over the South China Sea heading toward Vietnam today, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning center. The storm, now a typhoon with winds of 167 kilometers (101 miles) per hour, was 287 kilometers east of Hue at 1 a.m. Vietnamese time today. Ketsana is the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the eastern island of Samar in June last year, leaving 730 people dead and 637 missing. Ketsana dropped more than a month’s rain on northern Manila, the weather bureau said. About 411 millimeters (16 inches) fell there, exceeding the September monthly average of 391 millimeters and the bureau’s record for one day of 331 millimeters in 1967. To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net .

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Derivatives Regulation Becomes Acceptable Post Credit Crisis, Gensler Says

August 28, 2009

By Tina Seeley and Dawn Kopecki Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — A consensus has emerged in Washington on the need to regulate the derivatives market, a reversal of the political climate in which restrictions were rejected in 2000, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said. “We should have banged the table harder and pushed harder” for regulation then, said Gensler, who worked at the Treasury Department during the Clinton administration. The subsequent financial crisis has led to wide political support for regulations, Gensler said in an interview yesterday. The financial industry recognizes “that there’s a consensus in Washington, both in the administration and on Capitol Hill that we have to bring the full over-the-counter derivatives marketplace under regulation,” Gensler said. That market has swelled to $592 trillion from $95 trillion in 2000, according to industry data. Gensler, 51, said there was little support in Congress to enact regulatory changes in 2000, when a law was passed exempting most derivatives from regulation. Gensler worked at Treasury from 1997 until 2001, when President Bill Clinton left office. “Those of us who were involved at the time, looking back, there’s no doubt that all of us should have done more to protect the American public, knowing what we know now,” Gensler said. “There was no regulatory structure at the time, nor was there support in political Washington to do that.” Opaque financial products, including some derivatives, have contributed to almost $1.6 trillion in writedowns and losses at the world’s biggest banks, brokers and insurers since the start of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. AIG as ‘Exhibit A’ Among the fallen companies are Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the investment bank that filed for bankruptcy, and insurer American International Group Inc., which has been surviving on government loans. “All of us in this room put money into AIG — we’re all taxpayers — and $173 billion went into a very ineffectively regulated insurance company,” Gensler said. “It had no effective federal regulation. If that’s not exhibit A on why we have to cover this marketplace, I don’t know what is.” Gensler, who spent 18 years working at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. before joining the Treasury, became CFTC chairman in May after being nominated by President Barack Obama . The chairman was asked why he sent a letter to lawmakers on Aug. 17 seeking to strengthen some of the administration’s derivatives proposals. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told regulatory chiefs in July to stop campaigning for changes in Obama’s revamp of financial industry rules, a person familiar with the matter has said. The proposed legislation crafted by the administration is “strong and comprehensive,” Gensler said. Proposed ‘Enhancements’ His agency “sent additional comments where we thought they would be appropriate for enhancements,” he said. “As an independent regulator, we are asked by Congress specifically to share assistance, whether it’s technical assistance or assistance where there should be enhancements.” The administration is seeking to impose higher capital and margin requirements, move most derivatives to regulated exchanges and clearinghouses and impose supervision over all dealers. “It’s interesting how aggressive the CFTC is being in asserting its view outside the administration,” said Craig Pirrong , a finance professor at the University of Houston, in an interview yesterday. “It’s sort of out of character for the CFTC of the past.” Derivatives are financial contracts that can be used to hedge against changes in stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, interest rates and weather. Missing a Deadline Gensler will hold joint meetings next week with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro to discuss regulatory gaps between the two agencies. Gensler said the CFTC and SEC may not meet a presidential deadline of Sept. 30 to deliver a report to Congress on regulatory cooperation. “It may be an interim report,” Gensler said. “That’s a very tight schedule.” Gensler said the CFTC won’t need to revoke more “no- action” letters that the agency’s staff granted index investors from limitations on holdings in agriculture markets. On Aug. 19, the agency said it was revoking exemptions for two Deutsche Bank AG PowerShares commodity index funds and Gresham Investment Management LLC. “Those are the only two so-to-speak no-action letters that I’m aware of,” Gensler said. He rejected the idea that by limiting index fund holdings he might prevent smaller investors from participating in commodity markets. The commission is also considering whether to impose new federal limits on holdings in energy markets. ‘America Works’ “America works pretty well when there’s broad-based competition in financial markets,” Gensler said. “And even liquidity is promoted when there’s more market participants coming in that might have disparate views.” The agency is preparing “shortly” to expand its reporting of large trader holdings, breaking out what hedge funds and swap dealers hold, he said. The agency will also release updated data showing the holdings of index investors, following up on a report issued last September that showed those holdings were declining as crude oil futures prices rose. To contact the reporters on this story: Tina Seeley in Washington at tseeley@bloomberg.net ; Dawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.net .

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RCA: Trillions in Assets on the Hook

July 31, 2009

$2 trillion in major commercial properties, traded during the peak of the current cycle, are at risk, says Real Capital Analytics in a report issued Wednesday.

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