Scam of the Day

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Scam of the day – February 8, 2026 – Beware of New IRS Phone Scams: Fake “Tax Resolution” Departments Target Taxpayers

We are still in the early days of tax season, but scammers are already busy calling people to scam them.  The IRS recently issued a warning about scammers telling their targeted victims that they are from the “Tax Resolution Oversight Department” or the “Tax Mediation and Resolution Agency” and that the targeted victim owes taxes and offers to connect the targeted victim with a “tax resolution offer” who can help the targeted victim apply for the “IRS Liability Reduction Program.  The truth is that the IRS dos not have a “Tax Resolution and Oversight Department,” a “Tax Mediation and Resolution Agency,” nor an “IRS Liability Reduction program.”  The IRS imposters will pressure the targeted victim to pay the non-existent debt through a credit card, debit card, cryptocurrency or gift card.

I have been warning you for years about phony IRS telephone calls by which a scammer, posing as an IRS agent calls you and tells you that unless you send a payment immediately by wired funds, credit card, gift card, cryptocurrency or some other form of immediate payment that you will be sued or arrested.  Sometimes, they also ask for your Social Security number over the phone which no legitimate IRS agent will do.  Unfortunately although there have been many warnings about this type of scam including warnings from the IRS, they continue to be an effective scam by which scammers manage to trick people into sending them money.

TIPS

This scam is easy to spot.   The IRS will never initiate communications with a taxpayer by phone so if someone calls you purporting to be from the IRS in an initial effort to collect overdue taxes, you should hang up because it is a scam.   The real IRS will always make a first contact by mail.  Even if your Caller ID appears to show that the call is from the IRS, this does not mean that the call actually is from the IRS.  Through a technique called “spoofing” a scammer can make the call appear to be legitimate, but it is not.  The IRS will never demand payment by credit card, debit card, cash card, cryptocurrency or wired funds through an initial telephone call and they won’t threaten to sue you or arrest you. If you think that you may owe taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to speak to a real IRS employee.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – February 7, 2026 – Amazon Tester Scam Alert: Don’t Fall for Fake Paid Review Offers

For many people, working from home at a simple job that pays well is pretty attractive, which may explain why people are vulnerable to a scam offering to pay you to be a product tester for Amazon. Ads for Amazon product tester are found on social media such as Facebook and TikTok offering to pay you to test products that will be sent to you for free and then write a review.  Some of these ads promise payments of $1,500 per month.  The only problem is that these paid Amazon product testing jobs are a scam.  What makes the scam a bit more believable is that Amazon does have a product testing program, Amazon Vine, which invites specifically selected reviewers to have products sent to them for free to review, but the program is invitation only and it does not pay anything.  Here is a link with more information about Amazon Vine. https://www.amazon.com/vine/about

The scammers use social media and fake websites with easily counterfeited Amazon logos to trick people into applying for these phony jobs. The scammers also will post their phony job offerings on legitimate job sites such as LinkedIn and Monster.  Anyone interested in the job fills out an application that provides sensitive personal information including their Social Security number which is then used by the scammers for purposes of identity theft.

TIPS

This is an easy scam to avoid by merely understanding that Amazon does not pay anyone to test their products and their non-paid testing and review products program Amazon Vine is by invitation only.  Anyone else promoting an Amazon testing and review program is a scammer.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – February 5, 2026 – Publishers Clearing House Scam Alert: How to Spot Fake Prize Calls and Letters

In the last few years there has been an increase in reports of scammers calling people on the telephone and telling them that they have won one of the Publishers Clearing House lotteries, but that they have to pay fees or taxes before being able to claim their prize.  In addition there are reports of targeted victims receiving phony notifications by regular mail that they have won a Publishers Clearing House lottery, but that again they must pay fees or taxes before being able to receive their prize.

It is hard to win any lottery. It is impossible to win one that you have not even entered and yet scam artists have found that it is extremely lucrative to scam people by convincing them that they have won various lotteries. With so many people entered into the Publishers Clearing House lotteries, it is easier for scammers to convince people that they have won.  Recently, Donald Johnson Jr. was arrested and charged with scamming a 72 year old Michigan woman out of more than $200,000 after she was called on the phone by scammers posing as Publishers Clearing House who told her that she had won  a substantial prize, but had to pay taxes to Publishers Clearing House in order to claim her prize.  She was told to mail the $200.000 to multiple addresses including a payment of more than $90,000 to Johnson.

Most lottery scams involve the victim being told that they need to pay taxes or administrative fees directly to the lottery sponsor; however no legitimate lottery requires you to do so.  As with many effective scams, the pitch of the scammer may seem legitimate. Income taxes are due on lottery winnings, but with legitimate lotteries they are either deducted from the lottery winnings before you receive your prize or you are responsible for paying the taxes directly to the IRS. No legitimate lottery collects taxes on behalf of the IRS from lottery winners.  Other times, the scammer tell the “winners” that in order to collect their prizes, they need to pay administrative fees. Often, the victims are told to send the fees back to the scammer by gift cards. Gift cards are a favorite of scammers because they are the equivalent of sending cash.

After years of declining revenues Publishers Clearing House filed for bankruptcy in April and its assets were sold to ARB Interactive who are now operating the company as PCH Digital LLC.  Publishers Clearing House is still doing sweepstakes, but now almost exclusively online rather than through the formerly familiar mailings.

TIPS

Fortunately, there is an easy way to know, when you are contacted by Publishers Clearing House by phone, email or text message informing you that you have won one of its major multi-million dollar prizes, whether you have been contacted by the real Publishers Clearing House. Publishers Clearing House only contacts major prize winners in person or by  mail.  They do not contact winners by phone, email or text message so if you do receive a notification of your winning one of their major multi-million dollar prizes by those means of communication you know it is a scam.

Even if the Caller ID on your phone indicates the call is from Publishers Clearing House, it is very easy for a scammer to use a technique called “spoofing” to make it appear that the call is coming from Publishers Clearing House rather than the scammer who is really making the call. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.

In addition, no winners of the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes are ever required to make a payment of any kind to claim their prize so if you are told that you have won, but are required to make any kind of payment before you can claim your prize, you can be sure that it is a scam.  As for other lotteries, remember, you can’t win a lottery you haven’t entered and no legitimate lottery asks you to pay them administrative fees or taxes.

Also, as I often tell you, it is always a red flag that you are involved with a scam when you are asked to pay for anything with gift cards.  Gift cards are a favorite method of payment for scammers because they are easy to convert into cash and impossible to trace.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – February 4, 2026 – Grandparent Scam Warning: New AI Tactics and Job Scams Turning Victims Into “Money Mules”

I am sure by now all of you are familiar with the grandparent scam where a grandparent receives a telephone call from someone purporting to be their grandchild who has gotten into some trouble, most commonly a traffic accident, legal trouble or medical  problems in a far away place.  The caller pleads for the grandparent to send money immediately to help resolve the problem.  However the caller also begs the grandparent not to tell mom and dad.  One would think that no one would be gullible enough to fall for this scam, but don’t be so hard on the victims of this scam.  Scam artists have a knowledge of psychology of which Freud would have been envious and are able to use that knowledge to persuade their victims to send money right away. While this scam has been going on for approximately sixteen years, it continues to victimize people and has gotten worse and more convincing through the use of AI and voice cloning by scammers to make calls sound exactly like the grandchild’s voice.

Recently two elderly women in Vancouver Canada became victims of the grandparent scam after receiving calls from a man claiming to be the grandchild’s attorney informing the scam victims that the grandchild was in jail and needed $7,200 to cover court costs.  Things got interesting after that because the scammed grandparents were told that a courier would come to their homes and pick up the money.  The courier who picked up the money in both instances was not a knowing participant in the scam, but had accepted an unsolicited job offer he had not applied for to pick up funds on behalf of his employer.  After doing so twice from the elderly scam victims he became suspicious and went to police out of a concern that what he was involved with was illegal.  Fortunately, he still had the money from the final pickup and turned it over to police who are not filing charges against him.

TIPS

In regard to the grandparent scam, scammers often use the nicknames of the grandchildren when speaking to their intended victims.  Sometimes they get this information from social media while in other instances they get this information from reading obituaries which may contain the names of grandchildren so merely because the correct name is used in the call is no reason to believe the call.  Don’t respond immediately to such a call without calling the real grandchild on his or her cell phone or call the parents and confirm the whereabouts of the grandchild.  If a medical problem is the ruse used, you can call the real hospital.  If legal problems are the hook you can call the real police.  You can also test the caller with a question that could be answered only by the real grandchild, but make sure that it really is a question that  only the real grandchild could answer and not just anyone who might read the real grandchild’ s social media postings.  Prudent families can also come up with a code word to use in an emergency which a scammer will never know.

As for the job scam that turned an innocent person into a “money mule,” you should always be skeptical when you are contacted about a job for which you did not apply and a job for an unidentified employer picking up cash from people, particularly elderly people is always a scam.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and insert your email address where it  states “Sign up for this blog.”

Scam of the day – February 3, 2026 – Beware the Geek Squad Renewal Scam: How Fake Invoices Steal Your Identity

According to the FTC the company most impersonated by scammers with phishing emails containing fake bills or fake renewals is Geek Squad.  Geek Squad is a subsidiary of big box store chain Best Buy and it offers excellent tech support for electronic devices including televisions and computers.   Scammers have been sending phishing emails that appear to be Geek Squad invoices.  Reproduced below is one of those imposter phishing emails presently circulating.   It looked like a legitimate email from Geek Squad, although the grammar was not particularly good which is one of many indications that it was a scam. These types of phishing emails are intended to lure you into contacting the scammers where you will be prompted to provide  information that will lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  This email is intended to get you to respond by calling the phone number contained in the email to dispute the bill.  If you do call the number you will be prompted to provide personal information that would be used to make you a victim of identity theft.

Here is the email that is presently circulating:

Payment Processed to GEEK~SQUAD

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your order.

Please review your payment amount below, we have attached a PDF detailing your order invoice and terms of your subscription.

Contact Support +1 802 209 0705 Reach out to us anytime. We’ll be happy to help you.

——Product Details: ——

GEEK~SQUAD® Network Security – Auto Renewal 3 Years subscription
Invoice Number: GT-261994
Invoice Date: 06/10/2022
Payment Method: Online
Amount: 339.99 USD

We have charged you 339.99 USD for the next 3 Years subscription. We tried to contact you on your registered Phone number, Deduction of amount will appear on your bank account within 48 hours.

If you have any Question or Wish to cancel the Renewal, Please connect us on +1 802 209 0705

Sincerely,
© 2022 GEEK~SQUAD – All Rights Reserved
+1 802 209 0705

You’re receiving this email because you signed up for a GEEK~SQUAD account.

TIPS

Never click on links or download attachments in emails or text messages unless you have absolutely confirmed that they are legitimate and don’t call companies at telephone numbers that appear in the email such as this one.  Instead, if the email appears to come from a legitimate company, you can call them at a telephone number you confirm is legitimate.  In the case of Geek Squad their customer service number is actually 800-433-5778.  The phone number in the email is not that of the Geek Squad and the area code is that of Hawaii.  Never call the number that appears in these types of emails.

An indication that this is not legitimate and is a phishing email is the fact that nowhere in the email does your name appear.

This particular phishing email didn’t even carry the logo of Geek Squad although even it did, it would not be an indication that it is legitimate as it is quite simple to counterfeit a legitimate logo to give the email the appearance of legitimacy.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – February 2, 2026 – Formjacking: The Hidden Cyber Threat Stealing Millions From Consumers Each Month

Formjacking may be one of the most effective cybercriminal tactics that you have, most likely, never heard of.  According to the security company Symantec, approximately 4,800 websites of small, medium and large businesses are targeted by this type of attack each month at a cost to consumers of millions of dollars.  Formjacking occurs when cybercriminals manage to install malicious JavaScript code into the website of the targeted companies.  This malware enables the cybercriminals to steal the credit and debit card information provided by customers when they do business with these legitimate companies.  Much of the formjacking attacks against major companies, such as Ticketmaster, British Airways and contact lens company VisionDirect have been attributed to a cybercriminal group referred to as Magecart.  Often the malicious code is inserted into third party services that then infect the true target.  In the case of the attack on Ticketmaster, Magecart was able to go through a third-party chatbot which unsuspectingly loaded the malicious code into the web browsers of visitors to Ticketmaster’s website.  Instances of formjacking have increased dramatically in recent years.  Fortunately, security companies can provide security software to counteract formjacking, however, unfortunately, many companies fail to install such software and are quite vulnerable to a formjacking attack.  Making things worse, there is nothing that we as consumers can do to determine whether a website we are providing our credit or debit card is infected with formjacking malware.

TIPS

The key to protecting yourself from formjacking is, as I always advise, to never use your debit card for any retail purchases. If your credit card  is used for fraudulent purposes  you cannot be assessed more than $50 for such use and most credit card companies charge consumers nothing if their card is used fraudulently.   However, the potential liability of a person whose debit card has been compromised can reach his or her entire bank account tied to the card if the card owner does not report the crime promptly and even if the card owner does report the theft promptly, the debit card owner’s access to his or her own bank account is frozen while the bank investigates the crime.  Consumers should refrain from using their debit cards for anything other than an ATM card. Use a credit card for all of your card purchases to achieve greater consumer protection.  In addition, you should regularly monitor your bank account tied to your debit card in order to discover as soon as possible if fraudulent use of your debit card has occurred so that you can report it to the bank and limit your liability.  You also should regularly monitor your credit card account, preferably online in order to promptly recognize if your credit card’s security has been breached.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”

 

Scam of the day – February 1, 2026 – ShinyHunters Data Breach: What the Panera Bread Hack Reveals About Rising Identity Theft Risks

Data breaches are a common occurrence which is disturbing because they can readily lead to your identity being stolen or you becoming a victim of a scam as the hackers leverage the data they steal to lure you into a scam. Recently the English speaking hacking group ShinyHunters successfully stole personal information including customer names, email addresses, phone numbers home addresses and account details for 14 million customers of Panera Bread.  In the last year ShinyHunters hacked Google, Farmers Insurance, Allianz Life, Workday, Pandora, Cisco, Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Qantas.  In the case of Panera Bread, the hackers got access to a Panera Bread database through social engineering in which they posed as an IT worker and lured Panera Bread employees into providing access credentials.

Companies must do a better job of protecting themselves from not just technologically sophisticated cyberattacks, but less sophisticated, but equally effective social engineering attacks where the cybercriminals use psychology to manipulate employees to giving them access to important data.  Now there are two lawsuits related to the data breach filed against TransUnion seeking class action status. Both lawsuits allege negligence and failure to properly protect their data.  I will keep you informed as to the status of both of those cases.

TIPS

While personal information of the kind compromised in this data breach does not pose the immediate threat of a compromised Social Security number, it does enable a cybercriminal to create more specifically targeted spear phishing attacks that appear legitimate.

Victims of this data breach should  freeze their credit if they have not already done so.  Actually, freezing your credit is actually something everyone should do.  It is free and easy to do.  In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

Everyone also should monitor their credit reports regularly for indications of identity theft.  The three major credit reporting agencies now provide free weekly access to your credit reports so you can monitor your credit reports easily on your own.  Here is the only link to use to get your free credit reports.https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Some scammers have websites that appear to offer “free” credit reports, but if you read the fine print, you often may find that you have signed up for unnecessary services.
With data breaches so common, it is also important to limit the amount of personal information you provide any company to no more than what is absolutely necessary. Many companies ask for your Social Security number although they have no real need for that information.  Don’t provide it whenever you can.
Finally, be wary of anyone who calls you purporting to help you in regard to the data breach who  asks for personal information in regard to this data breach as that is a favorite tactic of hackers to lure you into providing additional personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  Also, as always, never click on a link or download an attachment to an email or text message unless you have absolutely confirmed that it is legitimate and don’t provide personal information in response to an email, text message or phone call unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

 

  • Categories

Archives