crime

The Year's Most Outrageous Tax Cheats

From a restauranteur who hid cash receipts in octopus boxes to a self-proclaimed governor who buried his gold, here are some of the oddest tax frauds the IRS caught last year.

8 Ways to Spot Counterfeit Money

The new $100 bill is designed to thwart counterfeiters, but that won't stop them from trying. To protect your wallet, learn the experts' rules for recognizing funny money.

Identity Thief Accidentally Sends Victims His Loot

A tip for identity thieves: When you buy a bunch of pricey merchandise with a stolen card number, make sure you don't ship the loot to your victims. That's evidently what happened to one Alaska couple. First their debit card was hacked to the tune of $5,000. Then, the packages began arriving.

Rogue French Trader's 3-Year Sentence, $7 Billion Fine Upheld

The Paris appeals court on Wednesday ordered former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel to spend three years in prison and pay back a staggering 4.9 billion euros (about $7 billion) in damages for one of the biggest trading frauds in history.

The Super Bowl of Fakes: Big Game's a Win for Scammers

The quantity of counterfeit goods entering the U.S. is increasing, and it gets worse around an event like the Super Bowl. Federal agents recently seized more than $6 million of counterfeits and shut down more than 300 illegal websites. But consumers are at risk for more than just getting a shoddy NFL jersey.

'Statue of Liberty' Pursues Tax Office Robbers in Toledo

Isaac Underwood's job requires him to don a Statue of Liberty outfit to attract customers for Liberty Tax Services. But on Thursday, Underwood, 27, behaved more like a costumed hero, chasing a pair of thieves who robbed his employer of $280.

5 Outlandish Insurance Claims Overturned in 2011

Bogus burglaries, fake funerals, self-inflicted air rifle assaults -- people go to great lengths to convince insurers to cut a check to cover their personal and financial losses. But the financial gain from phony pain and suffering is often short-lived.

The 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America

On Monday, the FBI trumpeted the news that violent crime dropped 5.5% in 2010 while reported property crimes fell 2.8%. The news, though, is not all so positive. A 24/7 Wall St. review of the data shows that violent crime rose in a several of the largest and poorest cities in the U.S.

Fraud Files: Plenty of Blame to Go Around in the Madoff Case

It's been more than two years since Bernie Madoff's gigantic Ponzi scheme collapsed, but the blame game is just beginning. And many of the victims are jockeying for position, hoping to recover some money from other parties who might be deemed partly responsible for the fraud.