AI-Powered Princes and the Grandparent Trap: An FBI Agent’s Guide to Scams

An FBI agent discusses the latest ways scammers are separating you from your money – and how to avoid getting conned.

MATTHIAS BALK|PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES
An older woman uses a phone.

By Olivier Knox

Oct. 21, 2026

Internet crime is big business. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center tallied more than a million complaints covering losses of nearly $21 billion. Operations that spread across continents are constantly evolving and are using artificial intelligence to get more sophisticated.

To prepare you for the inevitable attempts to make off with your money, we sat down with Supervisory Special Agent Timothy Lynch, unit chief of the FBI’s Cyber-Enabled Fraud and Money Laundering Unit.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Decision Points: What is the most common kind of scam that you see, and how does it work?

Lynch: The most common scam right now would be cryptocurrency investment fraud, where people receive cold calls and emails asking them to make some kind of investment in cryptocurrency, where there are claims that are going to be incredible returns on investment. In actuality, the scammers are just taking their funds wholesale. It is by far the most common. It has the highest loss amount. We had about $7.2 billion in reported losses last year.

Why am I getting so many obviously scammy text messages?

Because scam has become global in nature and industrial in scale.

Over the last 10 years or so, we've seen an incredible rise of what are actually known as scam compounds. These are anywhere from 100- to 500-acre mini cities, typically based in Southeast Asia and now Africa. What they're doing is they are buying up cell phone information in bulk, and they are sending out a lot of these cold call solicitations, trying to victimize people.

‘Follow the money’: Goldman Sachs under fire over $285M money trail in Neville Roy Singham probe

The Economic Times

Jun 29, 2026  

A federal grand jury has launched an investigation into alleged financial crimes tied to tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, with prosecutors examining a reported $285 million money trail that allegedly moved through a Goldman Sachs philanthropic fund and shell companies into U.S.-based nonprofit groups. The expanding DOJ probe has also placed Goldman Sachs under scrutiny as investigators follow the flow of funds.

Ilhan Omar’s dad ‘misrepresented himself as a refugee’ and was ‘loyal’ to brutal Somali dictator: source

By Chadwick Moore and Kamal Sultan

Published Oct. 13, 2026
Updated Oct. 13, 2026, 11:08 p.m. ET

Lefty Rep. Ilhan Omar’s DC home raided by DHS as part of ongoing criminal fraud investigation

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, wasn’t who he purported to be, a source told The Post.

The Minnesota congresswoman — whose home was raided by the feds on Monday as part of an ongoing criminal fraud investigation — has long described her father as an “educator” who fled his country’s devastating civil war alongside millions of others and arrived in America with his family as a refugee in 1995.

But, an expert scholar exclusively told The Post that Nur “misrepresented himself as a refugee” to US authorities when he was really a prominent military commander in the Somalia dictatorship that killed as many as 200,000 people.

Rep. Omar pictured with her late father, who went by many aliases.

ilhanmn/Instagram

“He was a full colonel in Siad Barre’s military regime,” historian and Oxford University doctoral researcher Mohamed Haji Ingiriis told The Post. “Ilhan’s father was never an educator.

He added, “Nur Said was a military officer who was loyal to the regime until the end. He was part and parcel of those who caused and created the mayhem they ‘fled’ to live comfortably in the United States.”

Nur, born in the Somali coastal town of Bandarbeyla in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, joined Somalia’s military in the late 60s, with conflicting reports suggesting he trained in the Soviet Union or Egypt.

He allegedly played a key role in Siad Barre’s army after the bloodthirsty dictator seized power in a Soviet-backed coup in 1969.

Nur, who died from COVID-19 complications in June 2020 at age 67, lived a life worlds away from the civilian teacher portrayed in Omar’s 2020 memoir titled “This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman,” Ingiriis claimed.

 

A portrait shows President Siad Barre, the architect of Somalia’s Scientific Socialism, circa 1970.

Getty Images

DHS chief, ICE officials spotlight sanctuary city consequences

 Fox News

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE officials hold a press conference to highlight the dangerous consequences of sanctuary city policies.

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Vatican’s UN diplomat: Hate speech violates command to love one’s neighbor

by Gina Christian - OSV News

September 18, 2026

Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia el-Kassis, the Holy See's new permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, poses in an undated photo with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. At a conference sponsored by the U.N.'s Alliance of Civilizations Sept. 17, the archbishop said in an address, "Hate speech of any kind "contradicts the commandment to love one's neighbor, poisons public discourse, inflames division, and too often prepares the ground for violence and persecution. Credit: OSV News photo/Eskinder Debebe, courtesy United Nations


(OSV News) — Hate speech “contradicts the commandment to love one’s neighbor,” said the Vatican’s top diplomat to the United Nations.

Archbishop Christophe Z. el-Kassis, apostolic nuncio and the Holy See’s permanent observer to the U.N., shared his thoughts in a statement during the Sept. 17 “Global Conference on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech.”

The conference, which took place at the U.N.’s New York headquarters, was sponsored by the U.N.’s Alliance of Civilizations, created in 2005 to address social and cultural polarization.

In his address — which came one day after three Vatican dicasteries released a new note on the importance of interreligious and ecumenical dialogue — Archbishop el-Kassis said hate speech “poisons public discourse, inflames division, and too often prepares the ground for violence and persecution.”

Such damage is inflicted regardless of whether hate speech is “directed against individuals or communities on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, or any other characteristic,” he said.

While “freedom of expression is a fundamental right that must be protected,” said the archbishop, “this freedom carries corresponding responsibilities.”

“Speech that deliberately incites hatred or violence cannot claim the protection of liberty,” he said, since “it erodes the very conditions in which genuine freedom can flourish.”

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Illinois Mom Accused of Killing 2-Year-Old Son After Becoming ‘Invested’ in Lindsay Clancy Case

“This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” an attorney for Corie A. Walsh said in a statement
By

 
Angel Saunders
Published on September 5, 2026 05:17AM EDT

Corie Walsh.Credit :
Will County Sheriff's Office

NEED TO KNOW

• Corie A. Walsh, 40, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh
• Walsh allegedly believed her son was the “anti-Christ” and had been following the Lindsay Clancy murder trial
• Her attorney claims she experienced a psychotic episode, and she remains in custody receiving medical treatment

An Illinois mother is accused of killing her toddler shortly after texting friends about Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.

Corie A. Walsh, 40, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to online court records viewed by PEOPLE.

The charges are in connection with the death of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh, NBC Chicago, ABC 7 Chicago, and Fox News reported, citing court documents.

PEOPLE reached out to attorneys for Walsh, but did not immediately receive a response.

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FBI Secretly Opened Probe Alleging Trump Fired Comey Because He Was a Russian Asset, Declassified Memos Show

The White House
August 5, 2026

By John Solomon

The FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin.

Internal FBI memos newly declassified by the White House show the investigation – codenamed Oxferd Comma – was launched in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s May 9, 2017 firing and was predicated on an allegation that previously released records show the bureau’s own agents had mostly dismissed.

“The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States,” the electronic communication opening the probe on May 16, 2017 stated.

“The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” it added. “In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspiracy to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”

OXFERD COMMA – Opening EC

The memo, written by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, made clear the concerns about Russian influence and obstruction included Comey’s firing, in part because of the public explanations Trump gave for it.

“This alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey,” the memo stated.

Both the Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were advised that the probe had been launched, the memos show.

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Former Louisiana priest sentenced to life in prison after conviction on three counts of sexual abuse

 

Former Louisiana priest sentenced to life in prison after conviction on three counts of sexual abuse

WWLTV

Jun 2, 2026

A former New Orleans-area priest will spend the rest of his life in a Texas prison. A jury handed down the sentence for Anthony Odiong after his conviction last week

DHS Highlights Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested in Sanctuary New Jersey in the Last Week Amid Leftist Smears Against ICE

DHS Highlights Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested in Sanctuary New Jersey in the Last Week Amid Leftist Smears Against ICE

Release Date: June 2, 2026


Sanctuary politicians need to stop peddling false smears about ICE detention facilities and start thanking ICE law enforcement officers for getting these thugs off New Jersey streets

WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement highlighting criminal illegal aliens U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested in New Jersey over the last week, including murderers, sexual predators, burglars, and violent assailants.

“While sanctuary politicians and leftist agitators spread false smears about the Delaney Hall ICE facility, the brave men and women of ICE are still hard at work removing criminal illegal aliens from New Jersey. In New Jersey, they have removed dangerous criminal illegal aliens with criminal histories that include voluntary manslaughter, sex assault, burglary, fraud, terroristic threats, and aggravated assault,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “These sanctuary politicians need to stop peddling false smears about ICE detention facilities and start thanking ICE law enforcement officers for getting these thugs off New Jersey streets. We will not let violent rioters slow us down from making America safe again.”

Gregg Jarrett: Lawmakers are embracing lawlessness

 

 

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Panama Papers: 10 years on, the promises and the failures

The Panama Papers exposed the systems and mechanisms that enable corruption worldwide. A decade later, Transparency International assesses what has changed and what hasn't

Panama Papers, 10 years on. Image: Transparency International
02 April 2026


Summary

• The Panama Papers exposed how hidden company ownership and corporate service providers helped move and conceal wealth linked to corruption and crime.
• A decade on, some progress has been made: more countries now require beneficial ownership registers, anti-money laundering rules have tightened, and Mossack Fonseca shut down.
• Major loopholes still remain and the core system has survived: corruption still thrives through a parallel financial world built to keep dirty money safe.
• Transparency International is pushing for accessible ownership data, tougher enforcement, stronger regulation and supervision of gatekeeper professions, better asset recovery and real cross-border cooperation.

In 2016, the Panama Papers pulled back the curtain on a financial system designed to operate in secrecy. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, working with Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 media partners, analysed a cache of 11.5 million leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The investigation revealed how anonymous shell companies and offshore accounts were used to conceal wealth, obscure ownership and, in many cases, facilitate corruption and crime.

The level of global exposure, the vast sums moved through the system and its sheer geographic reach were unprecedented – and the first consequences followed swiftly.

Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned within days of being linked to an offshore company. Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif was later disqualified from office following investigations triggered by the leak. Vast hidden financial networks were uncovered, reportedly connected to associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin, while figures close to power in China, Ukraine and across Latin America were also named.

What shocked the world was not only who was named and involved, but how routine it all appeared. Anonymous shell companies, nominee directors and complex offshore structures were not fringe tools – they were standard practice in a parallel financial system operating with minimal scrutiny.