Authorities in California took another step forward in the fight against Medicare fraud as 18 people were arrested and indicted today in connection $25 million Southern California Medicare fraud scheme. Prosecutors allege the massive Southern California Medicare fraud scheme was the creation of 30-year-old Michael Martinez of Long Beach and involved individuals linked to the Santa Ana based Brook Street Gang.

Of the just over one million first time home buyer tax credit claims that have already been filed, the IRS is already investigating one out of every ten claims for suspected fraud. Out of the 100,000 that are being investigated, the IRS is further investigating 167 for possible criminal schemes involved with those claims.

The last thing we had heard of indicted financier Danny Pang was that his trial was delayed. Today Bloomberg reports that Pang died in California at the age of 42.

Jury finds former Credit Suisse Broker guilty of huge securities fraud as investor losses total nearly $1 billion dollars.

A Chicago-area man has pleaded not guilty to four counts of mail fraud in connection with a two-year scheme that took nearly $12 million from up to 300 investors, according to a press release issued by the FBI.

The FBI's new mortgage fraud report shows an estimated increase of 36% in mortgage fraud during 2008.

As payment methods continue to change, so will fraudsters find new ways to steal people’s money. So what are the guidelines for protecting oneself against fraud - do consumers have any rights in this regard?

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based broker-dealer and four individuals with securities fraud, alleging that they collectively raised billions of dollars from investors for Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

Business credit card fraud is a prevalent problem that has cost companies millions of dollars each year. There have been many reported incidents when fraudsters were able to steal private financial information from companies. One of their common strategies is getting into business credit card accounts and using them for fraudulent transactions.

In July 2008, hackers broke into a computer at Wyndham Hotels. They stole tens of thousands of customer credit card records, including guest names, card numbers, expiration dates and highly sensitive data from the cards' magnetic stripe.

According to Reuters two executives from FTC Capital Markets Inc, including it's chairman are charged with with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.

Bernie Madoff is back in the news, but this time from a different angle. The question is are his ponzi scheme vicitims complicit in the fraud?