Most people think they would recognize a scam if they saw one. Unfortunately, today’s fraud schemes are designed to look ordinary.
A text message about an unpaid toll. A call that appears to come from your bank. An email warning that your account has been compromised. These scams are becoming more sophisticated, more convincing and more common across Kansas.
In communities like Topeka and Lawrence, where families, students, professionals and retirees are constantly connected online, scammers have more opportunities than ever to target unsuspecting victims.
The numbers are staggering. Last year, Americans reported losing more than $16.6 billion to fraud and internet crime, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Nearly 860,000 internet crime complaints were filed nationwide, while the Federal Trade Commission received more…
THE TD BANK INSIDER “BRIBE-FOR-DATA” SCHEME (USA)
Date: February 17, 2026 Perpetrator: Edward Low (Former Bank Employee)
Case Description: In a high-profile case of “Insider Threat,” Edward Low, a former employee of TD Bank in New York, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to accepting bribes in exchange for confidential customer data. Between 2021 and 2022, Low leveraged his internal access to harvest the personal details of high-balance account holders. He then sold this “hot data” to external fraud syndicates for as little as $26,700 in personal kickbacks.
The external fraudsters used the information Low provided to conduct “Account Takeovers” (ATO), creating fraudulent checks and falsifying bank records to drain over $500,000 from unsuspecting customers. Low even went as far as helping co-conspirators open shell company accounts at a second financial institution where he was later employed. He now faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. This case has sent shockwaves through the global banking sector, highlighting that even the most robust external firewalls cannot protect against a “rogue insider” with administrative credentials.
Link to Original: US Dept of Justice – TD Bank Insider Plea