A New York man who served as caretaker for his elderly neighbor has admitted to stealing nearly $142,000 in pension payments that kept flowing after the neighbor died.

Danilo Pesce, 60, of Pelham pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny in Albany County Court, New York Attorney General Letitia James says.

The neighbor, Jack Lee Morgan, was a retired Pelham school district teacher who collected a pension from the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Morgan died in 2020 with no living beneficiary, so the payments should have stopped.

But nobody told the retirement system about the death, and it kept sending $3,497 a month into Morgan’s bank account.

While working as Morgan’s caretaker, Pesce had been added to the bank account and to the deed of Morgan’s Pelham home.

Starting on March 17th, 2020, less than a month after Morgan died, Pesce regularly pulled money out of the account, the attorney general’s office says.

He used the cash on upkeep and renovations at Morgan’s home, where he and his wife were living part-time.

In total, Pesce took $141,968.

He has paid $147,000 back to the retirement system, which includes $6,000 in interest.

Says James,

“Danilo Pesce took advantage of the retirement system that thousands of hard-working New York teachers rely on… This heartless theft should serve as a reminder that my office will not tolerate anyone who breaks the law to steal from their neighbors.”

Pesce was arrested on July 30th of this year.

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A Connecticut woman has lost over $7,000 after scammers spoofed her credit union’s real phone number and talked her into sending her savings through Apple Cash.

The 45-year-old Windsor resident, who asked not to be named, says the caller claimed to work in the fraud department at 360 Federal Credit Union, reports NBC Connecticut.

She says her caller ID showed the credit union’s name, and the caller told her that her banking information had been compromised and her accounts needed to be secured.

Because her credit union is small, she says the fact that he knew where she banked made him seem like someone trying to help.

The report says that over a weekend in August, she sent more than $7,000 through Apple Cash to an unknown account, believing she was following her credit union’s instructions.

A fraud warning appeared while she was making the payment, but she says the caller told her the alert was a good sign.

“He goes, ‘Good, good. That’s what we want to see. We’re locking everything down.'”

By the following Monday, her account balance had gone negative.

Says the woman,

“All of a sudden it’s just like, whoa, where’s my money?… This person was very calculated. This definitely was not their first time at all.”

360 Federal Credit Union says it has found no sign that the transaction came from a breach of its systems.

She reached out to Apple and Green Dot Bank, which provides Apple Cash services, but has not been able to recover the money.

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Crypto exchange giant Binance and prediction markets platform Polymarket want the Polygon (POL) network to move about 70 million tokens out of the hands of the hackers who stole them late last month.

The two firms have filed a Polygon Improvement Proposal for a one-time hard fork that would set the POL balances in five attacker-controlled addresses to zero and credit the same amounts to recovery wallets the companies control, the proposal says.

The five addresses hold about 70.49 million POL, worth roughly $6.5 million at the October 29th price used in the proposal.

About 23.86 million POL sits in four addresses tied to the Polymarket hack on October 29th, while about 46.63 million POL sits in one address tied to the Binance hack that hit late the same day.

Polygon’s block producers have already added the addresses to a block list, so the funds cannot move.

But the companies say that is only a stopgap.

“The funds cannot move, but nothing in the current setup lets them be returned either.”

The proposal says the attacker has kept trying to get the funds out, including by offering validators cash to help unblock a transaction.

The fork would leave Polygon’s total supply unchanged.

It would only go live after approval through Polygon’s governance process, a test run on the Amoy testnet and proof that Binance and Polymarket control the recovery wallets.

The firms call it an extreme action that should not be reproduced commonly.

The plan is set to be presented at the Polygon Protocol Governance Call on November 5th at 14:30 UTC, with rollout expected to take about two weeks after approval.

Binance says it has already replaced most of the roughly $6.3 billion stolen from its hot wallets in the October 29th attack.

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A former Indiana letter carrier has been sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison for stealing checks from the mail in a $34 million bank fraud scheme that hit about 6,500 victims.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana says Destinee Ruffin, 29, of Indianapolis also got two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and theft of mail.

Ruffin worked at the Bacon Station Post Office in Indianapolis, where she took checks from incoming and outgoing mail between April of 2020 and May of 2022 and sold them to co-conspirators.

The buyers changed the payee names and ran the checks through the bank accounts of people who handed over debit cards, PINs or online banking logins.

Ruffin supplied John Young, 24, with more than $12 million in stolen checks and sold Tony McMullen, 36, more than $235,000 worth.

The case began in the spring of 2020 when a Bacon Station customer complained that an Economic Impact Payment check never arrived, and more complaints led agents to Ruffin’s route.

Investigators later mailed controlled Treasury checks with recorded serial numbers and traced them back to her.

A search of her home, vehicle and devices in April of 2024 turned up thousands of unsold stolen checks worth more than $20 million, with stolen mail piled in closets, in corners and even in the bathroom.

One victim found out her $1,618 payment to keep her retired husband’s health insurance never arrived when she showed up for surgery and was told her coverage had been terminated, forcing the procedure to be canceled.

Says U.S. Attorney Tom Wheeler,

“Destinee Ruffin’s crimes were not isolated acts of theft; they represented a sweeping scheme that touched thousands of households and eroded a fundamental public trust. By stealing millions of dollars’ worth of checks from the mail, Ruffin and her co-conspirators disrupted critical benefits, jeopardized family finances, and caused real harm to individuals who depended on timely delivery for essential needs.”

Ruffin was also ordered to pay $121,270.30 in restitution.

Three of her co-conspirators have already been sentenced, and Young is set to be sentenced on December 3rd.

The Daily Hodl reported on Ruffin’s guilty plea in October.

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A Wisconsin school district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank impersonation scam.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) initially lost $450,000 but has recovered $255,000 and is working to get back the remaining $195,000, reports FOX6 Milwaukee.

The district says it learned it was the victim of bank impersonation fraud and notified authorities on Monday.

MPS has not released details on how or when the fraud happened.

Says MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius,

“This is a sobering reminder of the sophisticated financial scams that occur every day across the country. We are taking swift and immediate action to strengthen our internal procedures to prevent this from happening…

We also are working with our partners at US Bank to recover the remainder of the funds.”

The district says it is putting short-term and long-term controls in place to protect its finances, but it has not said what those controls include.

Along with the criminal investigation, MPS is running its own internal probe.

Deputy chief financial officer Jennifer Buros will serve as acting chief financial officer, with help from Charles Burbridge of the Council of the Great City Schools.

The $450,000 loss is less than one-tenth of one percent of the $1.6 billion budget the Milwaukee Board of School Directors approved in May for the 2026-27 school year.

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A New York healthcare technology company has disclosed a data breach that exposed the medical information of nearly 50,000 people.

In its latest bulletin, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights says Cognitive Health Technologies suffered a hacking/IT incident impacting 49,467 individuals.

In a notice, Cognitive Health, which offers healthcare technology and IT consulting services, says it spotted suspicious activity on its network in late April of this year.

The firm also says the files taken include names, dates of birth, health insurance information, medical histories and treatment information.

“On April 27, 2026, Cognitive Health became aware of suspicious activity related to its network environment. We immediately took steps to secure our environment and launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the event. The investigation determined there was unauthorized access and/or acquisition of certain files and folders within Cognitive Health’s network between February 5, 2026, and April 28, 2026. As a result, Cognitive Health began an extensive review of these files and folders to determine whether sensitive information may be impacted. Our review determined that information related to certain individuals was present in the impacted data.”

The company says it has not found any misuse of the data so far.

It also says it has reviewed its security policies and added new measures to guard against similar attacks.

Cognitive Health urges impacted individuals to keep a close watch on incidents of identity theft and fraud, review account statements and monitor credit reports and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity.

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Cryptocurrency thefts are surging dramatically with two massive incidents pushing total losses to record levels for the month.

Security firm PeckShieldAlert says the industry experienced 55 major hacks resulting in $766.49 million in losses.

That figure represents a roughly 462% month-over-month increase from August’s $136.3 million.

The Bitget incident at about $387 million and the Liquid Network theft of about $320 million, with $285 million returned, have jumped to the top spots among the largest crypto thefts of the year to date.

Other notable incidents included an MEV bot yoink front-run at $7.81 million that was returned, along with Duelbits at $7 million and several smaller exploits with partial recoveries.

The top 10 list also featured Payment Processor V2 at $6.6 million with $3.4 million returned, DCENT Wallet at $6.57 million Astroport at $4.9 million Drop at $4.4 million NostraFinance at $3.5 million and Nomic nBTC Bridge at $3.15 million.

Earlier this month, PeckShield cited on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, saying Near (NEAR) Intents was hacked to the tune of $3.865M after its Binance Smart Chain (BSC) hot wallet witnessed multiple irregular outflows.

The exploiter has transferred the stolen funds to KuCoin and bridged them to BTC. The exploiter’s address has interacted with an address labeled NorthKorea LazarusGroup (0x098B7…E2f96)

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Banks in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were used to deposit stolen checks, or to try to, and two more men have pleaded guilty.

Raymond Wade, 43, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Dwayne Reddon, 40, of Trenton, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, reports News12 New Jersey.

The operation ran from March 2023 through June 2025.

Participants held themselves out as the people or businesses the checks named, often after obtaining business documents in those names or opening accounts that were not the real payees’, then split the proceeds.

The crew deposited or attempted to deposit more than 100 Treasury and commercial checks worth over $11 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said on August 11th when it announced the first eight guilty pleas.

Many of the Treasury checks, not the full set, were Employee Retention Credit refunds, a pandemic-era IRS credit meant to help businesses keep workers.

Eight other defendants had already pleaded guilty.

Wayne Bessant, 45, of Hamilton, and Ryan Small, 33, of Ewing, are still charged, and those counts remain pending.

Wade is scheduled to be sentenced on December 17th, and Reddon on February 9th, 2027.

The conspiracy charge carries up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, which can be higher depending on the financial gain or loss.

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A West Virginia woman has been charged with multiple felony fraud counts after she allegedly spent more than $50,000 using someone else’s debit card and transferring funds to Cash App.

The case involves $52,928.33 in 204 approved charges plus 219 attempted charges on a Mountain Valley Bank card, reports The Inter-Mountain.

According to a criminal complaint filed by West Virginia State Police, Jessica Fay Michaletz, 36, of Elkins faces 10 counts of fraudulent use of an access device.

Investigators say a replacement debit card mailed to an outdated address was used for a wave of Cash App transfers, and the bank had flagged about $40,000 when it called troopers.

Search warrant records allegedly linked one Cash App account to Michaletz through her West Virginia operator’s license, home address, Social Security number and IP address, while a second account used another person’s details on the same device.

Says Michaletz,

“What did I do? I used it. I did. I used it.”

Michaletz allegedly told troopers she found the card on the ground next to a mailbox and told friends the money came from gambling winnings.

She is being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a cash-only bond matching the alleged loss, with a preliminary hearing set for October 5th.

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Hundreds of thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries in the District of Columbia now face fraud risk after its Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) potentially exposed sensitive member data.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights says the District of Columbia’s DHCF experienced unauthorized access/disclosure that could affect 399,086 individuals.

According to DHCF, members of its Medicaid and DC Health Care Alliance (Alliance) enrolled between 2023 and July 2026 could have been impacted, as unauthorized entities may have accessed sensitive data hidden on its website.

“On July 21, 2026, DHCF learned that two reports on DHCF’s website contained hidden personal information that could be accessed by people who did not have permission to view it. These reports were intended to display only summary information about groups of people, such as enrollment counts and other statistics, and did not show anyone’s personal details on the screen. However, underlying personal information that supported these reports may have been reachable
by unauthorized users between 2023 and July 2026.

The information that could be seen may have included personal information, such as your, your child’s, or your family member’s Medicaid ID, date of birth, provider name, race gender, ward, or ethnicity. The information did not include Social Security numbers or financial account information.”

The DHCF says it abruptly removed the reports from the website while checking that its systems are safe and member information is protected. The agency also tells its members to ask a credit company to place a free alert on their credit report.

“DHCF has not learned that anyone looked at or used any of this information in the wrong way, but we are contacting you so you can understand what happened.”

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A Wyoming orthopedic practice has disclosed a cyberattack that put the personal, financial and medical records of tens of thousands of people at risk.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says Casper Orthopedic Associates PC suffered a hacking/IT incident on July 23rd, impacting 56,197 people.

In a notice to impacted individuals, the healthcare firm says an unauthorized entity accessed its systems and stole files that may include patients’ first names, last names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, financial account records, and medical information.

“On or about May 23, 2026, Casper discovered it was the victim of a cyberattack by an unauthorized third party. Immediately upon identifying the incident, Casper engaged third-party cybersecurity experts to assess, contain, and remediate the incident. Law enforcement was also notified.

Casper’s investigation, which concluded on June 11, 2026, determined that the unauthorized party may have acquired sensitive information from Casper’s systems. Casper then undertook an in-depth review process of the impacted information to determine the impacted individuals and their address information, which was completed on September 2, 2026. As such, Casper notified those who are believed to be impacted on September 8, 2026.”

Casper says it has found no evidence that anyone’s information was specifically misused.

The practice has added safeguards and tightened physical security while urging affected patients to reach out to credit reporting agencies such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Casper Orthopedic Associates PC is an orthopedic practice based in Casper, Wyoming.

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An armored truck driver hired to load cash into ATMs has been accused of stealing $259,574 from the machines and spending the money on cars, a cruise and other purchases.

Federal prosecutors say Christopher Skinner, 41, formerly of Milford, New Hampshire, worked alone at ATM locations across the state and removed cash bundles before servicing the machines between February 2nd and February 26th of 2024.

A federal indictment charges Skinner with 18 counts of bank theft plus money laundering and conspiracy counts tied to two FDIC-insured banks. His partner, Amee Skinner, 37, formerly of Conway, faces related laundering counts. Both pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire and are presumed innocent.

Prosecutors say cash deposits into the couple’s accounts rose sharply afterward, and funded the purchase of cars, a luxury cruise and other purchases.

“The defendants allegedly used the stolen funds to make substantial personal purchases, including $40,000 in cash for a 2019 GMC Sierra and $28,814 in cash for a 2019 Lincoln Nautilus. According to the indictment, the defendants also used stolen funds to pay for additional travel, retail, and online purchases.”

If convicted, the Skinners face years in prison.

“The bank theft counts each carry a maximum prison term of 10 years. The money laundering counts carry a maximum prison term of 10 years, and the money laundering conspiracy count carries a maximum term of 20 years.”

The indictment was filed August 5th of 2026.

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U.S. prosecutors have seized nearly $84 million from bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets tied to a Montana payments firm linked to Tether.

The civil forfeiture targets Capstone, a money services business that allegedly posed as an information technology company to open accounts at major banks while moving money for crypto firms, reports Reuters.

Court filings say Capstone, registered in Montana, processed payments for two crypto companies through a bank in Dominica. Prosecutors say the firm also ran a scheme that converted fraud proceeds into crypto by posing as FBI agents.

Nearly $81 million was seized from Capstone accounts at Wells Fargo and about $2 million from an account at JPMorgan Chase. Roughly $1.2 million worth of Tether’s dollar-pegged token was taken as well, according to the July filing first reported by The Information.

Tether said it was a customer of the Dominica bank and that its assets there were limited. A spokesperson addressed Capstone’s alleged conduct.

“Tether had no knowledge of the conduct by Capstone alleged by the Department of Justice.”

The Justice Department did not allege wrongdoing by Tether or the other firms involved. Spokespeople for Wells Fargo and JPMorgan declined to comment.

A lawyer for Capstone told Reuters the firm denies wrongdoing and plans to challenge the complaint.

Tether issues USDT, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency used to move value on crypto networks.

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A Connecticut hotel management company has disclosed a data security incident that may have exposed Social Security numbers, financial details and medical information.

Waterford Hotel Group, LLC and LMD Holding Company, LLC say they identified suspicious activity on certain computer systems on May 5th of 2026, then confirmed that an unknown actor gained access and was able to view or download data.

The types of information on the impacted systems vary by person and may include names, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, taxpayer IDs, financial account information, payment card details, usernames and passwords, medical information and health insurance information.

Waterford says there is no indication of any actual or attempted identity theft or fraud tied to the event.

The company posted an official notice and said it notified potentially affected people after finishing its review of what was impacted.

Waterford encouraged people to review account statements and credit reports for suspicious activity and to promptly report anything unusual to their bank or card issuer.

People seeking more information can call 1-888-940-9724.

Waterford Hotel Group is a hospitality management firm based in Waterford, Connecticut.

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A Connecticut bank customer has lost $89,000 after someone allegedly completed an unauthorized in-person wire transfer from his account.

Westport police charged a 38-year-old Brooklyn, New York man in the case, reports Patch.

John Hammonds, 38, was arrested Monday on first-degree larceny and third-degree identity theft charges and remains in custody in lieu of $70,000 bail.

Police say the victim’s bank alerted him that someone made an unauthorized in-person wire transfer of $89,000 from one of his accounts to an unaffiliated account in January of 2025.

Investigators identified Hammonds as a suspect after Westport police said he conducted the transaction at an M&T Bank branch in New York while representing himself as the victim.

Westport police obtained an arrest warrant, and on August 20th the department was notified that New Jersey authorities held Hammonds and planned to extradite him to Connecticut on unrelated charges.

After extradition, Westport detectives charged him and he was arraigned in Stamford Superior Court, with his next court date set for November 9th.

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Customers at a lender in Wyoming are still seeing surprise pending charges and balances that do not match a week after accounts came back from a cyberattack.

Hilltop Bank restored personal systems after an outage tied to the incident, but delayed transactions from that stretch are still posting, reports Cowboy State Daily.

Alyssa Schwindt of Casper said $519 in pending charges to her cellphone provider, AutoZone and Walmart showed up even though she had already paid those bills.

She tried to withdraw $1,500 for rent and was told only about $1,100 was available because of those floating transactions.

Annastacia Potter of Glenrock said a backlog of charges hit after the systems returned, leaving her husband unable to pay for a meal on the road, and that the bank canceled payments to wedding vendors.

Hilltop spokesman Bill Salvin said the charges were delayed in posting but should not have been a surprise.

“The charges were delayed in posting to accounts. However, they should not have been unanticipated.”

Salvin said customers who kept accurate records have not been affected, and the bank has no evidence customer data was compromised after the systems were restored.

The outage began on September 8th of 2026. Personal mobile banking returned on September 21st. Full personal systems came back on September 22nd.

The bank says it will work with overdrawn customers and reimburse late fees.

Its last update, on September 24th, said no further updates were expected now that systems are up.

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