Aisha Down

Articles

How financial scams work - and how to avoid them

2 weeks ago | coloradosun.com | Aisha Down |Dana Coffield

A text from an attractive man or woman, offering romance or an investment opportunity. A threatening phone call saying you’ve missed jury duty, or that there’s a warrant out for your arrest. An AI-generated voice message that sounds like your grandchild, saying they’re in trouble and desperately need money. The hooks for financial scams are as varied as human psychology.
Cryptocurrency ATMs target the “unbanked” in Colorado. So do scammers.

2 weeks ago | coloradosun.com | Aisha Down |Dana Coffield

COLORADO SPRINGS — Betty Kerwin remembers the “heightened feverishness” — and the fear. In February, the 91-year-old spent hours on the phone with anonymous men impersonating the Geek Squad at Best Buy, demanding she send them cash. By the time she hung up, she’d fed $8,000 into a cryptocurrency ATM: all the money in her checking account. “I let all those things pass my better judgement,” said Kerwin, a retired social worker who lives in Colorado Springs.
Iraq’s Dollar Auction: The ‘Monster’ Funneling Billions to Fraudsters and Militants Through the U.S. Federal Reserve

Oct 8, 2024 | occrp.org | Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis |Rana Sabbagh |Kevin Hall

In January, an attack drone detonated at a U.S. base near the Iraqi border in northeast Jordan, killing three soldiers and wounding dozens more — the most dramatic in a chain of strikes by Iran-backed militants since Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. quickly cracked down on a financial network it said supported Kataib Hezbollah, the Iraqi militia blamed for the attack.
Philip Morris Enters Egypt Market Following Disputed Tender

May 8, 2024 | occrp.org | Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis

Tweet this Share this on Facebook DONATE Swiss tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) obtained a stake in a company that won a disputed license to make and market cigarettes in Egypt, one of the world’s most desirable tobacco markets. The company’s full ownership details are not public, but one of PMI’s fellow shareholders is a PMI distributor.
Philip Morris quietly secures major stake in Egypt's tobacco

May 8, 2024 | newarab.com | Jason McLure |Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis

This story is part of Smoking for the State, a The Examination series examining government-controlled tobacco companies supported in part, by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. The Examination is a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering global public health, which receives funding from Bloomberg Philantropies among others. This instalment was reported in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Iraq Deploys Special Forces to Baghdad Airport to Increase Security

Jan 12, 2024 | occrp.org | Aisha Down

Iraqi authorities have deployed special forces to increase security at Baghdad International Airport. The move follows OCCRP’s December investigation that revealed the company contracted to secure the airport had no previous experience, and many of its staff claimed their salaries were not paid for several months. Reporters found that the Canadian company Biznis Intel was appointed to secure the airport in September 2022, but appeared to have misrepresented its credentials to Iraqi officials.
Baghdad Airport’s Employees Flag Concerns Over Security Company

Dec 21, 2023 | occrp.org | Aisha Down

Employees of Canadian company Biznis Intel allege they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, and cast doubt on the company’s ability to secure the airport. Innocent Odar, a 37-year-old Ugandan security contractor and canine expert, says he was expelled from Iraq in late September after he and five colleagues wrote a letter to police complaining about their working conditions and trying to tell them that the country’s biggest airport was in danger.