Newsletter Jun 11, 2021

A new report contends that nearly half of the multibillion-dollar stimulus spending on the American people went to scammers outside the U.S.

3 Things

Hacking America: The corporate world has taken a financial beating from international cybercriminals over the past year. As it turned out, the American people may be the biggest victims of all.
A new report from Axios claims that as much half of all the federal spending on stimulus checks and unemployment during the COVID pandemic ended up in the pockets of scammers in foreign countries.
The CEO of fraud-prevention service ID.me said more than $400 billion of unemployment money may have been lost of fraud, and as much as half of all unemployment monies might have been stolen. He estimates that at least 70% of the money that was lost ended up going to criminal syndicates based in China, Nigeria and Russia.
"These groups are definitely backed by the state,â€ he said, adding that U.S.-based criminal gangs aided the international groups. The scammers used stolen personal information to file false claims and withdrew the money before government agencies could catch them.
SEE WHAT IS BEING DONE TO RECLAIM THE STOLEN FUNDS

Keystone killing: If you thought the Colonial Pipeline went through some tough times during its recent cyberattack, consider the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which saw the plug pulled on the project.
After President Joe Biden rescinded the permit for the pipeline in a planning process that has been taking place since 2008, Canada's TC Energy finally threw in the towel on its plans to build more than 1,200 miles of pipe stretching from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska.
The project was expected to carry over 830,000 barrels of oil per day once the crude started flowing in 2023. Instead, TC Energy will work with regulators, indigenous groups and other stakeholders "to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the project," the company announced..
FIND OUT WHY ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS ARE CELEBRATING

To Russia, with love: Former President Donald Trump issued a strange request for Biden entering the current president's first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- say hey.
Feeding into claims about his too-cozy relationship with the Russian strongman, Trump released a statement asking Biden to pass along his well-wishes while also throwing in a cheap shot at his successor: â€œGood luck to Biden in dealing with President Putinâ€”donâ€™t fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards!â€
Biden will meet with Putin next week to address a wide range of issues, including the string of cyberattacks from groups based in Russia. But the primary point of the visit is to reset the ground rules after Trump gave the pitbull Putin far too much leash and leeway.
FIND OUT BIDEN'S MESSAGE HE WILL DELIVER TO PUTIN

Markets

DJIA	34,466.24	0.06%
S&P 500	4,239.18	0.47%
Nasdaq Composite	14,020.33	0.78%
Japan: Nikkei 225	28,923.30	-0.12%
UK: FTSE 100	7,088.18	0.10%
Crude Oil Futures	69.71	-0.83%
Gold Futures	1,902.80	0.34%
Yen	109.40	0.07%
Euro	1.22	0.11%
* As of market close

What's the password?

If your passwords for your online accounts are something obvious -- like your dog's name or your date of birth -- it's time to get more creative. And if it's a password you've use for many years, it's time to for an update.

Annoying as it may be, coming up with and memorizing new passwords for all your online accounts might be the only way to protect yourself following a major password breach that was posted to a hackers' website. Over 8.4 billion passwords -- that's an average of two per the entire global online population -- were posted on the dark web, including private login information for sites like Paypal, Apple, Gmail, Facebook and a lot more.

The file, entitled RockYou2021, contained passwords taken from previous leaks and breaches that malicious actors could use to launch password dictionaries and spraying attacks against billions of online accounts.

LEARN HOW TO CREATE VIRTUALLY UNBREAKABLE PASSWORDS

Make it rain

The first official day of summer is still 10 days away and the American West is already experiencing emergency-level water shortages levels. In fact, drought conditions are almost to the point of rationing.

With some areas of Arizona, California and Nevada, water levels are as low as 50% under normal conditions. Barring major rainfall totals during the driest time of the year, meteorological experts predict massive crop failures and more devastating wildfires in the worst drought in a century.

Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, is currently 38% below normal as water utility districts prepare to enact strict usage limits on customers. The first tier of restrictions involve unnecessary items lawn sprinklers and swimming pools, but they grow increasingly tighter to include individual household gallon usage unless heavy rains come to the rescue in a hurry.

SEE WHICH MAJOR CITIES ARE FACING THE WORST DROUGHTS

Imperfect pitch

The offensive firepower outage in Major League Baseball this season is down-right alarming, so much so that conspiracy theories have emerged to explain the lack of pop in the bats -- or is something up with the balls?

After MLB announced it is investigating whether pitchers are using banned substances to doctor the baseball and create more spin action, struggling New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso has a different take.

â€œMajor League Baseball manipulates the baseballs year in and year out depending on the free agency class â€” or guys being in an advanced part of their arbitration,â€ Alonso alleged. â€œSo I do think thatâ€™s a big issue â€” the ball being different every single year. ... Maybe if the league didnâ€™t change the baseball, pitchers wouldnâ€™t need to use as much sticky stuff.â€

The league-wide batting average is down to a historic low .237 and six no-hitters have already been thrown -- well ahead of pace for another record. But Alonso's Ballgate theory is a big stretch even for greedy MLB owners.

SEE OTHER THEORIES ON WHY MLB BATS HAVE FALLEN SILENT