Banking and Finance Sector

Extracted from the 8/21/2008 DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report (Website)

15. August 20, Alexandria Echo Press (Minnesota; National) Beware of advance fee loan schemes and other financial scams. With a struggling economy and a shortage of credit, many consumers are financially squeezed and looking for help. With a shortage of credit, many people are experiencing difficulty obtaining loans from conventional sources. Fraudulent operators target would-be borrowers with promises of being able to find them loans during this "credit crunch," only to collect up-front fees from them and then disappear. The state attorney general warns Minnesotans to be on guard against such "advance fee loan" scams. Federal regulators, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) report increases in this scam nationwide. Legitimate loan fees are typically paid after a given loan has been approved. People should beware of up-front charges or finders fees and they should not wire money in connection with obtaining a loan. Many scams, including advance fee loan schemes ask consumers to wire money to Canada or another location.
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16. August 20, Wall Street Journal (National) SEC unveils a filing system intended to replace Edgar. Edgar, the Securities and Exchange Commission's electronic database of corporate filings, will be replaced by a new system dubbed IDEA, or Interactive Data Electronic Applications, the agency said. IDEA will supplement Edgar at first but eventually replace it altogether. The SEC chairman said the system will give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds. Unlike Edgar, IDEA will use data-tagging software akin to bar codes for financial data. The technology, based on extensible business reporting language, or XBRL, permits rapid comparisons of different companies or different time periods. "All of the information will be searchable on the Internet," and available free of charge, the officialpromised. The SEC said IDEA filings will be available starting later this year.
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