Over two years, four brothers from New York scammed Amazon out of nearly $19 million. You see, on Amazon’s Vendor Central, merchants act as wholesalers. Amazon buys its products from the wholesalers and resells them to customers at a markup. Knowing this, the four brothers created a wholesale business they used to over-ship products to …

33% of U.S. adults have experienced identity theft. In 2019 alone, 14.4 million consumers were victims of identity fraud. That’s about 1 in 15 people. Dave C. is one of many Americans whose life was ruined by identity theft. Dave was doing well for himself before things went badly. He had a high-end job making …

Quick response codes or QR codes are small barcodes that can be scanned by smartphone cameras. The codes direct the user to a particular website. For example, restaurants use QR codes for customers to scan on their phones to read the menu. About 85% of smartphone users have scanned a QR code at least once. …

Black Hat Briefings is a cybersecurity conference held each year in Las Vegas. The conference provides security consulting to hackers, businesses, and governments around the world. The conference routinely draws a “who’s who” of hackers. In fact, it’s not uncommon for attendees to get hacked while at the conference. The joke is the only way …

Charlie W. and Bryce M. took a fishing trip in the Kimberley Region of Australia. On the trip, their vehicle became stuck in the mud. As the men tried to free the vehicle, they had a close encounter with a crocodile. This forced the two men and their dog to get on the roof of …

Many shooters like to add accessories to their guns. You can take a stock firearm and make it capable of doing a lot more. But sometimes it can be taken too far, and you can end up breaking the law. You should (obviously) never change, convert or accessorize any weapon to make it illegal – …

Police in Broward County, Florida recently arrested a couple for burglary. But this couple wasn’t breaking into homes without doing their homework. They posed as employees of the local power company, targeting elderly victims and claiming to need to look around the property. In some cases, one of the criminals would distract the victim while …

Ernest P. lives in Asheville with his family… One day, he was working in his driveway with his daughter when a neighbor called to say a bear was heading his way. Ernest went inside his home and grabbed a .30-30 hunting rifle. He stepped outside and shot the bear, killing it. But the shooting outraged …

You’re probably familiar with the case of Harvey Weinstein. He’s the Hollywood movie mogul convicted of sexual assault who received a sentence of 23 years in a New York prison. But what you might not be familiar with are the private spies Weinstein employed to try to win his court case. He hired the private …

Tex G. loaded up his truck with his shotgun and three dogs and headed out to the desert to go rabbit hunting. When he was just west of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Tex was blasted in the chest by his own shotgun… And the shooter was his 120-pound Rottweiler. The shotgun was laying on the …

A Greenville, Tennessee woman was shopping at a church sale when she saw what she believed to be an air-soft gun. The woman purchased the gun, but when she got home she took a closer look at it. She told police she realized that the gun was a Glock 23 with a full magazine and …

Mark D. is a police officer in Illinois… He worked at a local high school about 100 miles west of Chicago where he became acquainted with current and former students. One morning, around 8 am, students were preparing for a graduation ceremony. This was when a 19-year old former student entered the school and began …

A true hero doesn’t need recognition for their actions. Gwendolyn A. is a perfect example of this. When local news outlets tried to talk to her about the heroic actions she refused. The 79-year old woman was at her Georgia home around noon one day when a burglar tried to get inside. She said she …

Nick M. lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. One evening, he was standing in line at a Holiday Gas Station when he noticed something suspicious. A young man walked into the store with a knife in his hand. Nick said, “I kind of backed up a little bit to see what he was going to do, but …

Lachlan M. was a college student who borrowed his parents Jeep to explore the Western Australian coast. But when Lachlan veered off the main road to explore the mudflats, the trip took a dangerous turn. He thought the ground would be solid enough for the Jeep, but he was wrong. After his vehicle became stuck, …

In 2003, when U.S. forces moved into Iraq, military leaders worried that retreating Iraqi soldiers would destroy infrastructure. Specifically, there was concern that Iraqi forces would blow up the Mukatayin Dam (a hydroelectric dam located northeast of Baghdad). Destroying the dam would cut off power to the surrounding area, cause massive flooding that could lead …

A cardiac device from St. Jude’s Medical was found to have vulnerabilities that could allow a hacker to access the device. According to the FDA, once a hacker accessed the device, they could deplete the battery or even change pacing of the device. The compromised devices were meant to monitor and control heart functions. The …

James K. is a 76-yer old diabetic from Colorado… During a trip to Nevada, James and a friend decided to check out some old mines in remote mountains. But, the two men became stuck in their car on a remote road with no cell service. First, they tried to dislodge the car. When that didn’t …

Earlier this year, the California Department of Motor Vehicles alerted drivers of a security breach. The leak exposed the personal information of up to 40 million California drivers. The affected data included almost two years’ worth of vehicle registration records. This included the owner’s name, address, license plate, and VINs. The California DMV blamed the …

Parma S. is a 25-year old Tesla driver that was recently arrested by the California Highway Patrol. He was arrested after videos showed him in the backseat of his Tesla while the car was driving down the freeway. According to the CHP, they received several complaints about the car traveling on the highway without a …

In 2018, the Howe Ridge Fire broke out near Glacier National Park in Montana. The wildfire was started by a lightning strike near Lake McDonald. In total, 13 homes and 14 other structures were destroyed, and the fire burned over 13,000 acres and cost over 6 million dollars to fight. No lives were lost in …

One piece of real-life spy gear that sounds like it was out of a James Bond movie was the British Welrod. In 1940, the British set up a clandestine department knows as the Special Operations Executive. The goal of the SOE was to assist resistance movements in occupied Europe. The SOE weapons division was located …

Trevor was in his early 20’s. He was attending a local community college and money was tight… But he loved to spend time outdoors, and he frequented a fishing spot on the banks of the Mississippi River. The particular area wasn’t great for hunting but was ideal for fishing. Trevor grew up around guns and …

One evening around 9 p.m., 76-year-old George L. and his wife of 50 years were at home watching T.V. Then, the Stafford, NY couple heard a knock at their front door. George said, “I answered the door, which normally I will because you never know when somebody needs help.” “Soon as I cracked the door, …